HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Engineers at NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., have completed
first-round testing of a critical motor for NASA's new Ares
I rocket. The Ares I is a two-stage rocket that will launch
astronauts aboard the Orion crew capsule on missions to the
International Space Station and to the moon by 2020.
The ullage settling motor is a small, solid rocket motor
that serves two key roles during the launch of the Ares I
rocket. During first stage separation, which occurs 125.8
seconds into flight, the motor will fire for four seconds,
producing the forward thrust needed to push the second, or
upper, stage away from the first stage. This forward thrust
also ensures the rocket's liquid fuel is properly pushed to
the bottom of the upper stage fuel tank prior to ignition of
the J-2X engine that powers the upper stage.
The
successful hot-fire test of this new development motor --
the first test in this series -- was conducted Sept. 11 at
Marshall. All test objectives were achieved, bringing NASA
one step closer to developing America's new space
transportation system. This first series of early
development testing will consist of four motors. It is
scheduled to run through 2009. The second test series is
planned for February 2009.
"We are extremely excited
about the success of this test that proves we are headed
down the correct development path for this program," said
Danny Davis, upper stage manager for Ares Projects at
Marshall. "We have the right team in place, and we are
working a design that will secure America's future in
space."
The word "ullage" is taken from the French
term "ouillage," which is used in winemaking to describe the
space between wine and the top of a storage container, such
as a barrel or bottle. In this case, it refers to the space
at the top of the first stage fuel tank and the need to push
the fuel, or settle it, to the bottom of the tank.
The ullage motor, 9 inches in diameter and 47 inches in
length, is similar in design to the booster separation motor
used on the space shuttle's reusable solid rocket motor.
Eight ullage motors will be arranged in four pairs on the
Ares I upper stage aft skirt, which also houses the reaction
control system. The aft skirt is located between the upper
stage core, which contains the liquid hydrogen and oxygen
fuel tanks, and the interstage, which houses the rocket's
roll control system.
"We are very excited about this
opportunity for our team to practice the basic principles of
solid rocket motor design for the Ares I," said Steve
Harvison, ullage settling motor design lead at Marshall. "It
has been especially beneficial to newer team members who are
fresh out of college and eager for this challenge. We are
working every engineering aspect of these motors, from
technical analysis, modeling and simulations to propellant
tailoring work and hands-on developmental testing."
The first Ares I test flight, called Ares I-X, is scheduled
for 2009.
