President Obama: No Bucks and no Buck Rodgers

NASA Photos

Yesterday, A NASA contractor put the last segment of a 345 foot long tower meant to support the Ares 1 rocket and Orion spacecraft. It took about 9 to 10 months to build up the launch platform and tower though there is still much work to be left like adding all the ground support equipment (GSE), fueling and venting lines, swing arms and the Crew Access Arm. The schedule would have been to finalize the design of the GSE and umbilical arms by the end of this year as well as put the construction and installation of this equipment out for the bid. Construction and testing in 2011 and installation in 2012. Verification and validation will take place would have taken place in the 2012-2013 time frame and would have been ready for Ares I soon after that. NASA has built a tower that now has no purpose. In the last 5 years NASA has spent over $9 billion on the Constellation program and many of the visible milestones that have been accomplished include the following:

• Successful design and launch of the Ares 1-X test rocket


• Successful test firing of the 5 segment first stage for the Ares I with another test slated for later this year
  
• Successful testing of elements for the Orion launch escape tower
  
• NASA was about two months from performing the first pad abort testing of the Orion launch escape tower
  
• Start of construction of a high fidelity Orion ground test article
  
• Successful and timely construction of the mobile launcher (ML) for the Ares I rocket

It took 9 months to build the mobile launcher main structure. Now, I wonder how long it will take to bring it all down? What a way to spend $9 billion and get almost nothing for that money.

That's because President Obama has decided that America has no place in space. In reports that are coming out in the media, Obama is going to increase NASA budget but only for commercial transportation of astronauts and cargo to the ISS. No bucks, no Buck Rodgers as they said in "The Right Stuff." Another quote from that same movie is also very prophetic: "Funding makes this bird go up." Well funding for NASA isn't enough to get a model rocket off a launch stand. Our country, the only country to land humans on the moon will not be going back to the moon and instead we'll be putzing around in low Earth orbit if the President has anything to say about NASA direction. President Obama has diminished the very essence that makes this country great...the ability to overcome immense obstacles to achieve a great goal or accomplishment. Granted we've accomplished that goal over 40 years ago, but going back to the moon was going to be a stepping stone for our country to going further out into the Solar System.

Oh humans will go back to the moon and beyond. They just won't be Americans but more than likely Chinese, Russians, Indians and Europeans. To be clear, I wish those country's luck as they leave low Earth orbit and further human kinds knowledge of the cosmos. The US will be stuck in low Earth orbit in the International Space Station and that hurts.

Obama is giving NASA more money to have them spend it on companies that will get US astronauts only to the ISS and no further. Big effing deal, Mr. President. Why don't you just continue hitching rides on Russian Soyuz and save even more money? Oh right, we don't want to send any American jobs overseas. Forget that with the demise of the Shuttles and now Constellation program the US stands to lose more jobs than gain with the development of domestic commercial space transportation. And those jobs that will be lost are high paying tech jobs to boot!

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel which is an independent safety arm of NASA recommended against switching to unproved commercial systems to transport astronauts into space and to continue with the Constellation program. Apparently, astronaut safety is not a priority to the Obama Administration as is the space program in general.

To be fair, some of this is not the fault of the current administration. President Bush told NASA to go to the moon but neither he nor Congress gave them the money necessary to do the job thus NASA was falling behind the effort to develop Orion and Ares according to the time line that they laid out. And truth be told, NASA has been virtually ignored since July, 1969. No one cared about going to the moon or Mars or doing anything else and NASA has been forced to do more with less since that time. Same story different time. Now a little glimmer of hope is that reaction to the President's proposal is almost all negative and much of the negative reaction is bi-partisan in nature.

At the end of the day, the administration says they want to inspire children to study math, engineering and the sciences. What better way to inspire kids to go into these subjects than having a robust and world leading human spaceflight program?

Just a few days ago, I took my two young children to see the IMAX movie, "Magnificent Desolation" which chronicles America's missions to the moon. There is a scene in this movie where children talk about wanting to go to the moon and explore the Solar System. Sadly, the closest these kids and others like them who dream of flying to other worlds in the Solar System is by watching documentaries and Hollywood movies. America's astronauts will be staying in low Earth orbit for the forseeable future.

Back to the Future

NASA Images

In the hey day of the Apollo Program NASA built huge support infrastructure to support the manned missions to the moon. This included the huge Vehicle Assembly Building (the VAB), the crawler transporters, launch pad 39A and 39B and finally the Mobile Launch Platforms (MLP) with the Launch Umbilical Towers (LUT). With the demise of that program most of that infrastructure was destroyed or renovated to support the Space Shuttles. One of those parts was the massive MLP/LUT. The platforms were modified to support the Space Shuttle but the LUTs were either reused as parts of the current Fixed Support Structure (FSS) at pads 39A and 39B or are rusting at Kennedy Space Center.

Now that NASA is planning to go beyond low Earth orbit (pending a final decision by President Obama) NASA is building up new infrastructure to support the Ares I rocket with the Orion spacecraft. One of the most visible parts of the ground support equipment (GSE) being built
to support Ares I is a new MLP with LUT. In the four pictures above you see the new launch platform with the tower just starting to rise on the platform base. So far three tower segments have been attached with several more to be lifted on top. After the structural assembly is completed will come the long process of installation of support equipment, fuel lines, elevators, and other Ares I support equipment. The tower should be completed by summer of 2012 and ready to support the next Ares test flight (either an Ares 1- or if that is cancelled a proposed Ares I-X Prime).

Of course all this is predicated on what President Obama decides what to do with NASA's manned spaceflight program. Constellation is currently underfunded by about $3billion/year according to the Augustine report released last month. NASA's most visible program is at risk of being cancelled which means that the only possible use for the MLP/LUT being currently built is as an artificial reef.

Go Ares 1-X!

Here's a simulation video of the Pad Abort Test due to take place early next year:



This morning NASA launched the Ares 1-X Test rocket on a suborbital test to validate the aerodynamics and shape of the Ares 1 rocket as well as to test the three large 1st stage recovery parachutes.

The launch was delayed one day by unfavorable weather yesterday and it looked as if NASA would have problems launching it today. The main weather worries were related to triboelectrification (a phenomenon where an electric charge builds on the rocket as it flies through the atmosphere and hampering electronic signals between the ground and on board electronics).

NASA did launch at 11:30AM and was very impressive. The rocket seemed to pitch to the right soon after the rocket lifted off but looked good as it flew east directly over the Atlantic Ocean.

After about two minutes the solid rocket propellant burnt out and separation motors fired to separate the 1st stage booster from the Upper Stage Simulator (USS) which was essentially a mock 5th segment for the solid rocket motor, a mass simulator of the 2nd stage and the Orion capsule with launch escape tower.

NASA is extremely pleased with the results of the test and has said that everything went according to plan....well almost. It seems that the separation of the USS from the first stage was a bit off nominal, so much so that observers feel that there was recontact between the two segments after the physical separation. NASA will take a look at the telemetry to try and discern what may have occurred. NASA did say that the parachutes for the first stage worked (though there is a report that two of the three parachutes worked with the third failing) and that the first stage is being recovered.

Ares 1 is part of the Constellation Project which aims to replace the Space Shuttle as means to get astronauts to the ISS as well as return the US to the Moon and for flight to Mars and the Asteroid Belt. Currently NASA is build in a new mobile launch platform to handle the Ares 1 rocket as well as finish a preliminary design review on the Orion spacecraft and designing and testing a launch escape system for the Orion and a second stage using the J-2X rocket engine (designed based on the J-2 rocket that was used in Project Apollo).

However, the Ares 1 rocket may not see the light of day since a review ordered by President Obama revealed that NASA is woefully underfunded (no surprise there) to fulfill the objectives of the Constellation Project. The review made recommendations that includes scrapping the Ares 1 rocket in favor of alternative means to send US astronauts in to low Earth orbit and beyond. President Obama is expected to make a decision later this year.

Ares 1-X at Complex 39B

NASA Image

A little news away from the 787. NASA rolled out the Ares 1-X rocket to launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center yesterday. What a sight it is compared to the space shuttles we've been watching for almost 30 years. The Ares 1-X is to provide aerodynamic data of the Ares 1 rocket whose first stage is based on the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motors. The flight is to last no more than two minutes and is suborbital. The data will be used to verify the design and load limits on the actual Ares I rocket whose first flight (if it survives the White House review on Human Spaceflight) won't take place until 2015.

Ares 1-X is schedule for launch on October 27th between 8AM and 12noon.

One Small Step....

Today marks the 40th anniversary of a mind boggling milestone. 50 years ago people would not believe that humans had the capability and the drive to send human to the moon and return them safely back to Earth. But it was feat that was done and repeated 5 more times not counting the two flights to the moon that preceded Apollo 11. This is an important milestone not only for the US but for the human race. It reminds us that anything is possible and the the realm of the impossible can be actually overcome by human endurance, persistence, ingenuity and intelligence. It redefined our view of not only ourselves and our capabilities but also our view of the universe.

Today the US and other nations are looking at the moon again and further out to Mars but it won't be any easier or less expensive compared to the feat 40 years ago despite advances in computer technology, safety systems and materials. NASA is aiming to return US astronauts to the moon by 2020 though they have a very long way to go and numerous technical challenges yet to overcome with the Ares I, Ares V, Orion CEV and the LSAM vehicles that will get them there. It now all depends on our willingness to expend time, material and, more importantly, money if we want to get there. The President and Congress has the fate of this endeavor in their hands just as they did back in the 60's. I hope we have the perseverance to see it through.

On a personal note, 20 years ago in March 1989, Neil Armstrong paid a visit to Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. It was special moment for me as an a student and someone who has held a lifelong fascination and interest not just in aviation but space. Meeting and talking to Neil Armstrong is something that I still replay in my mind. What is fascinating the most was his ease at speaking to us and the fact that he wanted to share in experiences. It was as if he felt at home and comfortable surrounded by aspiring engineers at the school. The discussions not only focused on Apollo 11 but also what he did before and after NASA (like the Rodger's Commission to investigate the Challenger Accident). One particular memorable story didn't even have anything to do with Apollo 11 but about his time as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base. He was flying in the front seat of a two seat jet aircraft (forgot the type) with none other than Chuck Yeager in the rear seat. Well they had to land because of an unspecified emergency and after they landed found themselves stuck. Neil Armstrong remembers Chuck Yeager laughing in the back seat because Armstrong got themselves stuck in the mud and couldn't get free no matter how much thrust he throttled. A great story by a man who is not embarrassed to talk about it. It also bought home how involved he was with other great of aviation and how he himself helped advance aviation and spacecraft design himself.

Ares 1-Y CGM Launch Video

Ok a little off topic but here's a cool video of the planned launch of NASA's ARES 1-Y test flight. Here it will use an acutal 5 segment SRB derived from the shuttle solid rocket motor as well as an actual 2nd stage but a dummy second stage engine and a dummy Orion capsule. The Launch Abort System tower (LAS tower) is real and NASA wants to test the high altitude capability of the LAS Tower to pull the Orion off the "stick" in case of an emergency. The test launch is planned for September 2013 and will not carry any astronauts.

Great videos on NASA's Constellation Program

Here's a switch from the usual 787 stuff.

NASA has embarked on returning Americn's to the moon by 2020. Here are a couple of great videos produced by NASA detailing what they're doing.

Video 1

Video 2