The solid rocket is armed, the countdown is in its final minutes as NASA and ATK prepare to ignite Ares I five-segment first stage designed to take humans out of Earth's gravitational pull -- this time; however, the rocket isn’t going anywhere.

Engineers at ATK install new mid-span to support Ares I solid rocket motor design. (ATK)

The Ares I development motor, or DM-1, will be tested at Alliant Techsystem's (ATK) test stand in Promontory, Utah on August 27. With a magnificent flash of light the 154-foot solid rocket motor will come to life, producing heat two-thirds the temperature of the sun and 3.6 million pounds of thrust from its 12-foot diameter cylinder.

Spectators will first see the flame of the motor, so bright the majority will wear sunglasses, then a few seconds later the sound wave will be heard, followed by the ground shaking. Those in attendance will gain a true understanding of the power produced by this motor.

Called by some an "engineering masterpiece," the first stage is capable of producing 22 million horsepower which is equivalent to the energy produced by 25,882 race cars. So how do ATK and NASA hold down one of the world's most powerful rockets?

The load measurement system on ATK's test stand which is attached to the thrust block. (ATK)

"It's comparable to an ice berg or an upside down mushroom where the majority of this massive test stand is underground," said Gary Bates, chief test engineer for ATK Space Systems. "This motor is designed to go places, so we need to ensure that it can't."

The test stand is made out of 7,000 cubic yards of concrete, 308 tons of reinforced steel and 230 tons of steel plates and rails. It includes a 16-foot tall by 40- foot long, and 20-feet wide above ground concrete fixture, or thrust block, which is attached to an extremely large buried foundation measuring more than 100 feet long by 80 foot wide and almost two-stories below the ground.

The test stand also includes a new, mid-span support which was installed to support the weight of the longer five-segment motor for approximately 70 seconds until enough propellant has been consumed to lighten the weight of the motor.

Newly installed mid-span support for the Ares I five-segment solid rocket motor. (ATK)

The rocket is installed horizontally with attachments at the front and aft ends of the stand. More than a hundred fasteners up to 2.5 inches in diameter help hold the motor in place. At the thrust block, the first stage is attached to a load measurement system.  This system is designed to not only handle up to 4.3 million pounds of force, but measure it.

"Along with securing the motor in the test stand, we need to be able to collect data during its operation," said Bates. "This data is vital in understanding how the motor performs to compare with flight and other ground test data." 

Once the test is complete, NASA and ATK will be able to use the information in collaboration with data collected from the Ares I-X test flight this fall, to finalize the design of Ares I first stage.

For more information about the Ares rockets or to watch the DM-1 hot fire test live, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ares

An Orion mockup has hit the road again for another round of testing. The full-scale vehicle is taking part in a series of tests known as PORT (Post-landing Orion Recovery Tests) to study the environment for astronauts and recovery crews after an Orion ocean splashdown. We invite you to come out and check out America’s next crew exploration vehicle during several stops on its Florida to Texas trek:

-- Challenger, Center, Tallahassee, Fla., Mon., Aug. 10, noon to 3 p.m. EDT

-- Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Fla., Tues., Aug. 11, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CDT

-- StenniSphere, NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., Wed., Aug. 12, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. CDT.

-- Museum of Natural Science, Jackson, Miss., Aug. 13, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT

-- NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, Aug. 14, 3 p.m. CDT through Aug. 17, approximately 9 a.m. CDT

Check out a photo from the last test and get a preview of what you can see this week (minus the water).

You can read more in the news release: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/aug/HQ_09_183_Orion_on_the_Move.html

You can also follow Orion on twitter: www.twitter.com/Orioncrewmodule

NASA gave the official "go" for the Ares I first stage Development Motor 1 (DM-1) test targeted for August 25 concluding a two-day test readiness review. Nineteen NASA managers signed off on the official readiness statement. It reads: "Pending satisfactory completion of normal operations flow and open items identified in this review, the Ares I First Stage test hardware is ready to support the static testing of DM-1."

The review was held at ATK Launch Systems Huntsville, Al. office on July 21-22.  More than 50 solid rocket motor technical experts reviewed every detail of the DM-1 solid rocket motor, now installed in a  test stand at ATK’s Promontory, Utah test facility.  The first stage five-segment development motor has been under development since 2006. It is based on the design of the space shuttle's four-segment configuration, but includes several modifications.

Max Tavoian, ATK Space Systems manager opened the formal review for ATK. Tavoian noted that most people in the room had been working toward DM-1 for the last three and a half years.

"This review will tell you why DM-1 is ready to go. DM-1 has 46 design objectives and 650 instrumentation channels. This test will prove out a series of technology improvements and design attributes including changes to the propellant grain, nozzle and updated liner and insulation implemented by ATK related to the new five-segment reusable solid rocket motor."

Over the two days, the team engaged in a healthy and thorough discussion about the motor's instrumentation, propellant and motor performance, insulation and components, metal case components and seals, and the overall readiness to "go" for test on August 25. The upcoming test is expected to provide valuable data on motor internal pressures, thrust profile, and performance of new designs on the nozzle and the internal motor insulation.  Additional benefits include data on roll-control, acoustics and vibration data. Engineers need all of this data to continue to design the Ares I rocket.
 
No issues emerged from the review that impact test readiness. Final instrumentation will be installed over the next month in preparation for the firing.

Alex Priskos, first stage manager for the Ares Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. chaired NASA's test readiness review panel. He closed the meeting enthusiastically, acknowledging the hard work of the team which made this successful review possible. "This effort has been a thorough and professional effort. The professionalism of  this team gives me a high level of confidence as we go forward with this test," he said.

"DM-1 is about taking advantage of all we've learned from the Shuttle program -- the safety aspects and technology enhancements -- and moving forward to the next stage of crewed exploration beyond low-Earth orbit," explained Priskos. "This test is the first step in a  series of development and qualification tests. The ultimate goal is to design and build a first-stage motor that increases performance, is safe, reliable and will meet or exceed all of our requirements and objectives. The entire Ares team is looking forward to the DM-1firing next month and reviewing the test results."

Jennifer Morcone, MSFC PAO

Stacking is set to begin for the Ares I-X vehicle on Wednesday, July 8 in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. It's been a long time since the workers in the VAB have seen a new vehicle. In fact, it's been 25 years since a new vehicle was stacked.

Following nearly three years of work by thousands of dedicated team members, the Ares I-X vehicle is ready for stacking on the Mobile Launch Platform, or MLP, in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. 

Over the last week, the management team has met for reviews. Today (July 7), a “go” was given for the stacking operations. All of the modification work has been completed in VAB High Bay 3, as well as the Mobile Launch Platform, in preparation for the new Ares I-X vehicle.

Tomorrow, the Ares I-X aft assembly, composed of the aft skirt and aft motor segment, will be rolled from the Rotation Processing and Surge Facility to the VAB and lifted by overhead crane and placed on the MLP. (Be sure to check out the KSC gallery for photo updates.)

Over the next month, the stacking operations will continue with the additional motor segments, simulated upper stage segments and the vehicle will be completed when the simulated crew module and launch abort system is added to the top. (There will be a time-lapse camera. NASA will be posting video and images.)

We will keep you posted on this blog, on our Facebook page and Twitter.

Let the stacking begin!

The first images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, are in. The images were taken along the moon's terminator -- that's the dividing line between day and night -- giving scientists a good look at the topography. It's exciting times for the LRO scientists and the folks at NASA's Constellation program because the close-up camera shots will help determine safe landing sites for future explorers, locate potential resources, describe the moon's radiation environment and demonstrate new technologies. It means NASA is another step closer to returning humans to the moon.

The satellite also has started to activate its six other instruments. The Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector will look for regions with enriched hydrogen that potentially could have water ice deposits. The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation is designed to measure the moon's radiation environment. Both were activated on June 19 and are functioning normally.

Instruments expected to be activated during the next week and calibrated are the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, designed to build 3-D topographic maps of the moon's landscape; the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment, which will make temperature maps of the lunar surface; and the Miniature Radio Frequency, or Mini-RF, an experimental radar and radio transmitter that will search for subsurface ice and create detailed images of permanently-shaded craters.

The final instrument, the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project, will be activated after the other instruments have completed their calibrations, allowing more time for residual contaminants from the manufacture and launch of LRO to escape into the vacuum of space.

This instrument is an ultraviolet-light imager that will use starlight to search for surface ice. It will take pictures of the permanently-shaded areas in deep craters at the lunar poles.

Can't wait to see and learn more.

Constellation has its eyes on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and is anticipating some great images. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on the morning of June 23 and after that orbit is refined engineers will power up and calibrate LRO's instruments. In a couple months, LRO will begin mapping the lunar surface to find future landing sites and searching for resources that would make possible a permanent human presence on the moon.

While the Apollo missions demonstrated that that it was possible to send humans to the moon, they did so for very short times - only three days, and at great risks. The LRO mission is paving the way for extended human habitation on the lunar surface and striving to reduce the risks to the astronauts travelling there.

LRO's very high resolution cameras and laser altimeter will examine more than 50 potential landing and outpost sites on the lunar surface in enough detail to resolve an object the size of a beach ball. This will provide information to engineers currently designing the Altair lunar lander and allow them to build safe and effective landing systems, and will give mission planners the information they need to select safe landing sites.

Plus, the logistics resupply of a lunar outpost will be a challenge far exceeding that of the International Space Station. It will be necessary for lunar astronauts to learn to "live off the land" by utilizing the resources available on the moon. These may include water in permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles, which could be invaluable for both consumables for the astronauts and propellant for their spacecraft. LRO instruments will map these regions of shadow and determine whether and where these resources are located. In addition, LRO will map the resources of the entire moon's surface looking for deposits of other valuable resources, such as oxygen, locked in the lunar soil.

The availability of energy also will be the determining factor on how effective humans will be in accomplishing lunar science and exploration objectives. Because the moon's axis is not tilted like the Earth's, there are regions of the lunar poles that receive almost continuous sunlight, rather than the 28-day cycle of light and dark found in most regions. This will allow solar power systems to provide electricity to a lunar outpost with much greater efficiency. The LRO cameras will accurately determine these regions of perpetual sunlight by observing them over an entire year. 

See the LRO web site for additional info: http://lro.gsfc.nasa.gov/

We've received several requests for the video that was presented yesterday at the Augustine Panel meeting. It's called "Constellation: Launching a Program" and you can click on the image below the view the video. You can also access it by visiting the Constellation page at http://www.nasa.gov/constellation and select "Multimedia" on the left menu. You can also copy the following code to embed the video from the NASA Telvision YouTube site:

<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q7lPByc_NxM&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q7lPByc_NxM&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>

The Norm  Augustine led U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee heard from Doug Cooke and Jeff Hanley  yesterday during the panel's first public meeting held at the Carnegie Institute in Washington. 

The full presentation, which includes a comprehensive status report on Constellation can be found at:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/library/hsfr_exploration.html

Jeff Hanley briefed that NASA is on track to maintain the March 2015 goal for the first crewed Orion/Ares flight to the International Space Station.  He emphasized how Constellation is making use of existing NASA and contractor facilities and capabilities but in a leaner, smaller more sustainable manner to not just provide crew transport to space station, but to develop future human spaceflight systems that move beyond low Earth orbit, to the moon and beyond.  

Technical progress to date is impressive.  Scan through the Augustine panel briefing charts and you can see the labor of over 10,000 civil servant and contractor employees hard at work designing, building and testing hardware.   Click and scan through an interactive tool posted to the Constellation website this week and you can see the Ares and Ares I-X, Orion, Altair vehicle designs come to life, linking design drawings to video footage of actual hardware and tests.

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/constellation_projects/

A mockup of NASA’s nearly 45-foot long launch abort system (LAS) for the crew exploration vehicle, Orion, will be on display from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. CDT on Thursday, June 18 at New Mexico State University’s “horseshoe” area.

The system is being used to help NASA engineers prepare for the Pad Abort 1 test, which will take place in nearby White Sands Missile Range in November. When astronauts launch to the moon aboard the Orion crew exploration vehicle, the LAS will pull the crew and its module out of danger should a malfunction in the launch vehicle occur on the launch pad or during ascent atop the Ares I rocket. The 90-second Pad Abort 1 flight test will help gather information about how LAS operates in reality.

Other NASA exhibits include a large inflatable tent, handouts, a guest appearance by EVA, one of NASA’s inflatable astronauts, and models of its newest space vehicles, the Orion crew module and the Ares I and Ares V rockets. NASA’s Constellation Program is developing these vehicles, including the Altair lunar lander, to send humans to the International Space Station, moon and beyond after the shuttle retires in 2010.

Folks in the area are invited to catch a glimpse into NASA’s next steps in space exploration. We’ll have NASA employees there from Dryden Flight Research Center in California, Johnson Space Center in Texas, White Sands Test Facility and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The public events are part of the Las Cruces community event held in conjunction with the June 19 groundbreaking of Spaceport America, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.

For more information about NASA’s next steps in space exploration, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/constellation.