This week the Ares I-X rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral. It was a new beginning in the storied history of American Spaceflight. The I-X is a prototype of the Ares I, which is expected to see test launches in 2012 and begin launching crews into low Earth orbit and supplies to the International Space Station in 2014. Ares I-X is now giving engineers valuable data for making tweaks to their design. It consists of a solid rocket booster very similar to the rocket boosters you see on either side of the space shuttle, except that it is a little taller and the nozzle throat is a little bigger. Stacked on top of that is the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fueled second stage which utilizes an engine derived from the Saturn V (the second stage was empty for this test flight). The rest of the rocket, which will someday include a crew module and abort system (pointy thing at the top), was nothing but dumbed-down avionics and mass mockups of components that will eventually be used in Ares I and beyond. If you haven’t already, take a look at the flight video. You can go here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/index.html The video is on the right hand side. Note the shock wave.
The Orion program is similar to the Apollo program in that we will plop a module on top of a big rocket and when it returns it will float down on parachutes. It seems like a step back from the Space Shuttle, which glides down and lands on a runway. The problem with the Shuttle is that it became orders of magnitude more expensive than was originally planned. The module concept may be “archaic”, but it is more simple and cheaper. The Shuttle’s thermal tiles number in the thousands, many of which are unique. They are fragile, as shown by Columbia. The turn-around time for the Shuttle is much longer than originally planned mostly due to the tiles. The Shuttle is a beautiful thing, but not the right fit for getting back to the Moon.
Of course we will not be launching an Apollo twin. The Ares rockets will be more advanced and safer – they include a launch abort system for the crew in case something goes horribly wrong during launch.
So now that we know more about the Ares I rocket than we cared to, why do we care? The Ares rockets will eventually take us to the Moon and on to Mars, and it will be expensive. The Augustine Commission, appointed by Obama, claims that NASA will need to add $3 billion to their $18 billion budget, $10 billion of which already goes to the Orion program. That is a lot of money. Seems like that money would be better spent shoring up our enormous budget deficit, but as long as the current administration continues acting like they have daddy’s credit card, we will just print more money to pay for it all. The truth is human’s need to explore. Exploration is something that defines us all. The desire to search out the unkown burns in each of our hearts. I believe this desire was intentional. At every advancement in 
science, humans ventured further out to sea, further under sea, or further above sea. Better yet, it was the desire to go further that spurred the development of great technological advancements that made living easier and more enjoyable. Scientific advancement goes hand-in-hand with exploration. Even more so, it provides energy to the most powerful machine the United States has: inspiration that fuels the imagination of our kids. Space is a challenge that stares us in the face and dares us to come forward. It is riddled with vast amounts of unknown difficulties and dangers, yet at the same time it holds storehouses of knowledge waiting for us to find. The truth of the matter is, whether we go or not, China will, and they will gain the knowledge and resources we were to afraid to go after.
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Raging Kitty