The
Ares V (formerly known as the Cargo Launch Vehicle or CaLV) is the cargo launch component of the upcoming Constellation program, which will replace the Space Shuttle after its retirement in 2010. Initially, the Ares V will launch the
Earth Departure StageThe Ares V Earth Departure Stage is a rocket stage which will be designed by NASA at its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama as part of Project Constellation...
and Altair lunar lander when
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
returns to the
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
, which is currently planned for 2019, but will also serve as the principal launcher for missions beyond the
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
-
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
system, including the program's ultimate goal, a manned mission to
MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance, due to iron oxide prevalent on its surface....
after 2030. The unmanned Ares V will complement the smaller, and man-rated
Ares IAres I is the crew launch vehicle being developed by NASA as a component of the Constellation Program. The name "Ares" refers to the Greek deity Ares, who is identified with the Roman god Mars...
rocket for the launching of the 4-6 person Orion spacecraft. Both rockets, deemed safer than the current Space Shuttle, will utilize technologies developed for
Project ApolloNASA's Apollo Program landed the first humans on Earth's moon. US President John F. Kennedy announced his support for a manned moon landing on May 25, 1961, as part of a special address to a joint session of Congress:...
, the Shuttle, and the Delta IV
EELVEvolved Expendable Launch Vehicle is an expendable launch system program of the United States Air Force, intended to assure access to space for Department of Defense and other United States government payloads...
program.
The Ares V will be able to carry about 188
tonneA tonne or metric ton , also referred to as a metric tonne, is a measurement of mass equal to , or approximately the mass of one cubic metre of water. It is not an SI unit but is accepted for use with the SI...
s (414,000 lb) to
Low Earth orbitA low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...
(LEO), and 71 tonnes (157,000 lb) to the
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
. Upon completion the Ares V will be the most powerful rocket ever built, lifting more into orbit than even the American
Saturn VThe Saturn V was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. In total NASA launched thirteen Saturn V rockets with no loss of payload. It remains the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever brought to operational status from a...
, the failed
SovietThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
N-1 for the cancelled
Soviet MoonshotThe Soviet Union competed with the United States to be the first to land a man on the Moon in the 1960s. The Soviet Moonshot program ultimately consisted of two separate manned programs: a lunar flyby program using a UR-500K / L1 combination, and a lunar landing program using a N1 / L3 combination...
, and the successful Soviet/
RussianRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
EnergiaEnergia was a Soviet rocket that was designed by NPO Energia to serve as a heavy-lift expendable launch system as well as a booster for the Buran Space Shuttle. It had the capacity to place about 88 metric tons in Low Earth orbit....
booster developed for the
BuranBuran may refer to:* Buran , a Soviet space shuttle**Buran program, which developed the spacecraft* Buran , a wind which blows across eastern Asia* Buran cruise missile, a Soviet cruise missile...
Shuttle. The Ares V and the smaller Ares I are named after
AresIn Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. Though often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."-Etymology:Ares is the god of war...
, the Greek god of war, which is the equivalent to the Roman god
MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance, due to iron oxide prevalent on its surface....
.
Design
The Ares V is being designed as a heavy-launch vehicle to send large hardware and materials to the
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
or send supplies beyond
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
orbit to sustain human presence there. The Ares V is a three-stage rocket: the first and second stages, which burn together, utilizes both solid and liquid propulsion with the upper stage providing the necessary propulsion to send the hardware and staples beyond low-Earth orbit and onto a trajectory to the Moon.
Ares V, like the Space Shuttle, will utilize a pair of solid-fueled first stage rocket boosters that will burn simultaneously with the liquid-fueled second (core) stage. The solid rocket booster on Ares V will be an improved version of the current
Space Shuttle Solid Rocket BoosterThe Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters are the pair of large solid rockets used by the space shuttle during the first two minutes of powered flight. Together they provide about 83% of liftoff thrust for the Space Shuttle. They are located on either side of the orange external propellant tank...
, but with five and a half segments instead of the current four segments. The liquid-fueled second stage is derived from the
Space Shuttle External TankA Space Shuttle External Tank is the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contains the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplies the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to the three space shuttle main engines in the orbiter...
, and will use six RS-68B liquid-fueled engines attached to the bottom. Its fuels will be liquid oxygen (
LOXLox is salmon fillet that has been cured. In its most popular form, it is thinly sliced—less than in thickness—and, typically, served on a bagel, often with cream cheese and capers....
) and liquid hydrogen (LH2). Originally, NASA intended to use five Space Shuttle Main Engines instead of the RS-68s, but switched to the RS-68s due to the engine's higher thrust, reduced cost, and simpler design.
The upper stage, derived from the
S-IVBThe S-IVB was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company and served as the third stage on the Saturn V and second stage on the Saturn IB. It had one J-2 engine...
upper stage used on the
Saturn IBThe Saturn IB was an uprated version of the Saturn I, which featured a much more powerful second stage, the S-IVB. Unlike the earlier Saturn I, the IB had enough throw weight to launch the Apollo Command/Service Module or Lunar Module into Earth orbit, which made it invaluable for testing the...
and
Saturn VThe Saturn V was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. In total NASA launched thirteen Saturn V rockets with no loss of payload. It remains the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever brought to operational status from a...
rockets, is known as the
Earth Departure StageThe Ares V Earth Departure Stage is a rocket stage which will be designed by NASA at its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama as part of Project Constellation...
(EDS). Powered by the Apollo-derived
J-2XRocketdyne's J-2 was America's largest production liquid hydrogen fueled rocket engine before the Space Shuttle main engines , and is being revived in support of NASA's return to the Moon....
rocket engine, which will also be used on the liquid-fueled upper stage of the Ares I booster, the EDS will be used to steer the Altair lunar lander into its initial low-Earth "parking" orbit for later retrieval by the Orion spacecraft, and then will propel both the Altair and Orion to the Moon. The EDS can also be used to haul large payloads into low-Earth orbit, along with placing large unmanned spacecraft onto trajectories beyond the
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
-
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
system.
The payload capacity of the Ares V system, approximately 188 tonnes, is more than 6 times larger than that of other
heavy-lift launch vehiclesWhen comparing launch systems, those capable of lifting the most mass to orbit use Heavy Lift Launch Vehicles. The phrase "heavy lift" has often been applied to vehicles like Saturn V, Titan IV, Ariane 5, Proton, and Delta IV-Heavy...
in use or under development worldwide, and is substantially larger than the retired American Saturn V, Soviet N-1, and Soviet/Russian
EnergiaEnergia was a Soviet rocket that was designed by NPO Energia to serve as a heavy-lift expendable launch system as well as a booster for the Buran Space Shuttle. It had the capacity to place about 88 metric tons in Low Earth orbit....
rockets. Besides its lunar role, it can also support a manned Orion expedition to a
Near-Earth asteroidThe Orion Asteroid Mission is a proposed NASA mission to a Near-Earth Asteroid using the standard Orion spacecraft and a landing module based on Altair. Techniques could be developed to protect the Earth from asteroid impact...
, and could boost an 8 to 16-meter successor of the
Hubble Space TelescopeThe Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital...
to the
SunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.86% of the Solar System's mass....
-Earth point.
Ares V's role in Constellation
Ares V will be the cargo launch component of the Constellation program. Unlike the
Saturn VThe Saturn V was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. In total NASA launched thirteen Saturn V rockets with no loss of payload. It remains the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever brought to operational status from a...
and
Space ShuttleThe Space Shuttle, part of the Space Transportation System , is a spacecraft operated by NASA for orbital human spaceflight missions. It began operations in the 1980s and is scheduled to be retired from service in 2010 after 134 launches...
, where the crew and cargo were launched together on the same rocket, Project Constellation is planned to use two separate launch vehicles, the Ares I and the Ares V, for crew and cargo respectively. This allows the two launch vehicles to be optimized for their respective missions. Constellation therefore combines the
Lunar Orbit RendezvousLunar orbit rendezvous is a key concept for human landing on the Moon and returning back to Earth.In an LOR mission a main spacecraft and a smaller lunar module travel together into lunar orbit. The lunar module then independently descends to the lunar surface. After completion of the mission...
used by Apollo with the
Earth Orbit RendezvousEarth orbit rendezvous is type of space rendezvous, a method that has been proposed for space missions to the Moon. NASA considered an EOR mission profile for the Apollo program, but chose instead to use lunar orbit rendezvous...
mode proposed by Dr.
Wernher von BraunWernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun was a German American rocket physicist and astronautics engineer, becoming one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the United States...
during the early years (along with the "Direct Ascent" proposal) during the early planning stage of Apollo.
Development of the rocket and its Earth departure stage will be led by the
Marshall Space Flight CenterThe George C. Marshall Space Flight Center , the original home of NASA, is a lead center for propulsion, Space Shuttle propulsion, Space Shuttle external tank, crew training and payloads, International Space Station design and construction, for computers, networks, and information management...
. The Ames Research Center is responsible for the Ares V integrated health management system supports in developing its payload shroud.
Glenn Research CenterNASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center, located within the cities of Brook Park, Cleveland and Fairview Park, Ohio between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Cleveland Metroparks's Rocky River Reservation, and has other subsidiary facilities in Ohio. Its...
leads the development of the lunar lander ascent stage as well as Ares V power system, thrust vector control system and payload shroud.
Langley Research CenterLangley Research Center is the oldest of NASA's field centers, located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It directly borders Poquoson, Virginia and Langley Air Force Base. LaRC focuses primarily on aeronautical research, though the Lunar Lander was flight-tested at this facility and a number...
has a lead role on Ares V aerodynamics.
Further roles
Although the Ares V is a medium to long term project,
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
is planning to deploy its lift capability in a range of projects, along the lines of the now defunct
Apollo Applications ProgramThe Apollo Applications Program was established by NASA headquarters in 1968 to develop science-based manned space missions using surplus material from the Apollo program...
.
One proposal is to build an 8 to 16-meter
Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space TelescopeThe Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope is a proposed 8 to 16.8-meter UV-optical-NIR space telescope that if approved, built, and launched, would be a true replacement and successor for the Hubble Space Telescope ; with the ability to obtain spectroscopic and imaging observations...
to be placed in the Sun/Earth
L2 pointThe Lagrangian points , are the five positions in an orbital configuration where a small object affected only by gravity can theoretically be stationary relative to two larger objects...
. It would be a significant increase in dimension and performance over the
Hubble Space TelescopeThe Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital...
and the Ares V vehicle will be able to carry this to its destination in a single shot.
Future Ares V missions could also serve as a cost-effective, mass transport of construction materials for future
spacecraftA spacecraft is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. On a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters space then returns to the Earth. For an orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters a closed orbit around the planetary body. Spacecraft used for human spaceflight carry people on board as...
and
missionsSpace exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
, delivering
raw materialA raw material is something that is acted upon or used by or by human labor or industry, for use as a building material to create some product or structure. Often the term is used to denote material that came from nature and is in an unprocessed or minimally processed state. Iron ore, logs, and...
s for example to a
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
dock positioned as a
counterweightA counterweight is an equivalent counterbalancing weight that balances a load.-Uses:A counterweight is often used in traction lifts , cranes and funfair rides...
to a Moon
elevatorA space elevator is a proposed structure designed to transport material from a celestial body's surface into space. Many variants have been proposed, all of which involve traveling along a fixed structure instead of using rocket powered space launch...
.
Early concepts
In the 1997 book
The Case for MarsThe Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must is a nonfiction science book by Robert Zubrin, first published in 1996. Richard Wagner worked as a supporting author....
, Robert Zubrin discussed a possible future heavy launch vehicle named
Ares. In the book the rocket would have consisted of the
Space ShuttleThe Space Shuttle, part of the Space Transportation System , is a spacecraft operated by NASA for orbital human spaceflight missions. It began operations in the 1980s and is scheduled to be retired from service in 2010 after 134 launches...
's External Tank powered by four SSME and a second stage powered by an
RL-10The RL10 was USA's first liquid hydrogen fueled rocket engine. An updated version is used in several current launch vehicles. Six RL10 engines were used in the S-IV second stage of the Saturn I rocket. One or two RL10 engines are used in the Centaur upper stages of Atlas and Titan rockets. One...
engine. One notable difference in the Zubrin
et al. design is the mounting location of the SSMEs, which were side-mounted on a small flyback craft. This design was meant to allow the Ares to fly using existing
Space ShuttleThe Space Shuttle, part of the Space Transportation System , is a spacecraft operated by NASA for orbital human spaceflight missions. It began operations in the 1980s and is scheduled to be retired from service in 2010 after 134 launches...
infrastructure.
See also
- Ares I
Ares I is the crew launch vehicle being developed by NASA as a component of the Constellation Program. The name "Ares" refers to the Greek deity Ares, who is identified with the Roman god Mars...
- Ares IV
Ares IV is a design for a heavy-lift launch vehicle that could be used for human spaceflight missions. It is one of the launch vehicle designs which has been proposed for inclusion in the Constellation program, which NASA plans to use for space exploration after the Space Shuttle is retired.-...
- Comparison of heavy lift launch systems
When comparing launch systems, those capable of lifting the most mass to orbit use Heavy Lift Launch Vehicles. The phrase "heavy lift" has often been applied to vehicles like Saturn V, Titan IV, Ariane 5, Proton, and Delta IV-Heavy...
- Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle
The Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle, or simply Shuttle-Derived Vehicle , is a term describing one of a wide array of concepts that have been developed for creating space launch vehicles from the components, technology and/or infrastructure of the Space Shuttle program...
- Direct Launch Vehicle
External links