Constellation: November 2007 Archives

With the thanksgiving holiday in the US at the moment the English language spaceflight community of bloggers and mass media has gone very quiet but here is some detail on NASA's Ares I crew launch vehicle (CLV) and Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV) care of NASASpaceflight.com.

This, I think, UK based website clearly has some good links into the US Constellation and Shuttle programmes yet none of their writers are names I recognise from the aerospace media community. In the past I had noted that the Constellation documents the website had obtained were many months old and NASA had told me the website's editorial team never actually spoke to the agency.

But with one individual at least participating in a Boeing telecon not so long ago and NASASpaceflight's recent interview (well it looks more like an emailed Q&A to me) with the Ares I first-stage element manager Alex Priskos, it seems basic journalistic practice is now being followed.

Anyway, well done them in getting those insider contacts into Constellation. Either that or they have hacked into NASA's computers!

Following my recent articles on NASA budget woes, potential delay to Shuttle orbiter Atlantis' retirement and the US agency's own internal newslettters highlighting problems with the CLV I am expecting to talk to NASA's prime contractors in the next few weeks so "stand by" - as NASA's PR officials like to say - for more info on the trials and tribulations of the people at the sharp end.

And for those of you who like lots of pictures with your spaceflight news bites I have started to post images of NASA's new spacecraft and rockets on our forum airspace.aero. Expect lots more in the coming weeks and months

Following Flight's exclusive on NASA's own reporting of ongoing problems with its Ares I crew launch vehicle in an internal emailed newsletter, NASAWatch.com has published detail about one difficult issue the Ares project office is having to wrestle with

At the same time NASASpaceflight.com has published an interview with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's Ares I first stage element manager Alex Priskos about trade studies for nozzle redesign and expendabilityand other stuff. Interesting answers but elsewhere in the Blogosphere alleged Lockheed Martin Orion crew exploration vehicle development team member and blogger T.L. James is not so enthused by "the stick"

But one area where Ares I is progressing is placing those juicy contracts and Ares I first-stage prime contractor Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has announced its latest contract award

The Lunar Lander is another of the Constellation programme's many stars and our sister title New Scientist reported on progress with a potential rocket engine for that extraterrestrial spacecraft

And ATK has also made known it has completed work on a potential ascent engine for the lander

However Mr X over at the Chairforce Engineer blog is not so assured

For those of you who can persuade NASA you're supposed to be there, there is always the forthcoming lunar lander industry day, woo hoo!

In the meantime NASA has been conducting Ares first-stage recovery parachute tests, fired off another four-segment solid rocket booster and the agency has also started on its launch abort system launch pad but even still T. L. James is not a happy bunny

Developing all these fancy new rockets and landers is not cheap and NASA's head honcho Mike Griffin has been doing his best to get the cash from the US Congress but sadly the initiative to give the cash strapped agency more dosh has not worked

Some children just never get a chance in life and NASA's Constellation programme Ares I crew launch vehicle (CLV) has been unloved by many since its inception.

A name change from crew launch vehicle to Ares I didn't help and then Flight's scoop about the Ares IV suggested that that unloved creation now had competition.

While some senior personnel say Ares IV was just a notional late-in-the-next-decade near Earth object mission launcher you had to wonder why they did it.

And then finally on 5 November Johnson Space Center circulated a newsletter that used strong language to suggest there were problems, "there are significant threats to performance to be worked as the project works towards Preliminary Design Review", it stated.

The International Space Station's mobile transporter (lower center) moves towards the center of the ISS truss structure on flight day 10.

As the Space Shuttle Discovery crew continue with mission STS-120, which could be the 14th or the 12th mission before the end of the Shuttle programme, NASA's shiny new Constellation programme Ares I crew launch vehicle first-stage contractor Alliant Techsystems, aka ATK, has fired off a solid rocket booster