Ares V

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Comparison of the Saturn V, Space Shuttle, Ares I, and Ares V.

Artist's impression of an Ares V during SRB separation

This article is about the Ares V launch vehicle. For other uses, see Ares (disambiguation).

The Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) is the proposed unmanned version of the Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicle family that will support Project Constellation, the new manned space program that will supersede the Space Shuttle program after 2010. The launch vehicle can carry about 130 metric tons (287,000 lb) to low Earth orbit.

1 Design
2 Planned specifications
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Design

Ares V is derived from current Space Shuttle technology, but can trace its lineage to the successful American Saturn V rocket, and the cancelled Shuttle-C unmanned parallel-payload cargo pod. Designed as an in-line booster, similar to the Magnum Booster proposed in the 1990s, the current (as of May 18, 2006) reference design uses two 5-segment Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (the Space Shuttle uses 4-segment SRBs) attached to a 33-foot diameter liquid fueled central booster which has five RS-68 engines (currently in use on the Delta IV launcher). Originally, Ares V was to use five throw-away versions of the Space Shuttle Main Engine, but due to the complexity and expense of the current SSMEs, NASA decided to use the RS-68 engine due to its simplicity in design and construction, its higher thrust, and its reduced cost (a modified RS-68 engine would cost US$20 million as opposed to $55 million for a single-use SSME). The RS-68 would be modified to operate and perform like the Shuttle SSMEs currently in use. While NASA calls the central booster tank "a larger version" of the Space Shuttle External Tank, it should be noted that its 10 meter (33 foot) diameter matches that of Saturn V's first (S-IC) and second (S-II) stages, and is roughly the same length as the two stages combined.

The second stage, based on the S-IVB upper stage used on the Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets, is known as the Earth Departure Stage or EDS, and would feature a single J-2X rocket engine (also used as the second-stage engine for the Ares I) that will maneuver the LSAM or any large-sized payload into a circular orbit. On lunar missions, the EDS will then fire its engine for a second time to place the combined Orion spacecraft and Lunar Surface Access Module onto a trajectory to the Moon.

The capacity (~130 t (143 ton)) would be in the same class as the American Saturn V and Soviet/Russian Energia rocket and would be capable of supporting manned expansion to Mars as well as the moon. It can, with the addition of a LSAM-based "kick motor" (or even a Centaur upper stage), even launch planetary probes at the same weight class as that of both the Galileo and Cassini-Huygens directly to the outer Solar System. The Shuttle-C parallel payload design was considered, but dropped to increase payload and simplify aerodynamics.

On March 1st, 2006, the CaLV was given the preliminary name Ares V. The name was officially announced by NASA in a press release dated June 30, 2006.^[1]

[edit] Planned specifications

Length: 107 meters (358 ft)
Gross lift off weight: 3350 tonnes (7.4 million lb)
Payload Capacity: 130 tonnes (287,000 lb) to Low Earth orbit; (after docking with the separately launched CEV, the EDS that will be launched by Ares V will be able to propel 65 tonnes (143,000 lb) to the Moon).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

The Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (PDF). Constellation Program: America's Fleet of Next-Generation Launch Vehicles. NASA (2006). Retrieved on November 22, 2006.