Spaceflight

NASA has been evaluating larger 10m (33ft) and 12m fairings for its Constellation programme's Ares V cargo launch vehicle that will carry the Earth departure stage and Lunar Lander, within its current 8.4m shroud, into low-Earth orbit from 2018.

NASA has said that the larger fairings could be used to launch future space telescopes. The fairings would also enable higher mass crew and cargo Lunar Lander designs, but the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center computer aided design data, obtained by Flight, shows the larger fairings de-stabilising the vehicle by moving its centres of pressure and gravity much further apart.

NASA/Flight
Above: Flight's concept of an NASA Ares V cargo launch vehicle with larger fairing

For the full story on NASA's bid to return to the Moon see flightglobal.com/moonshot