Officials Say Agency May Be Able To Speed Up Program

Hoping to divert the public's attention from scathing media reports, suggesting the Ares I rocket is a multi-billion boondoggle... on Wednesday officials at NASA reiterated their confidence in the design of the next-generation launch vehicle, and also suggested NASA could fly Ares sooner than the current target date of 2015.

Jeff Hanley, manager of the Constellation manned space program, said NASA continues to work on a plan that would result in the first manned Ares launch within six years. "We're shooting for a more aggressive date of September 2014," Hanley said in a conference call, reports The Associated Press. "The real stretch is what can we do to accelerate as much as 18 months. That will be particularly hard."

Hanley added a study is now underway to determine whether such an ambitious launch date is feasible. It should be completed in December; the first unmanned Ares I-X test flight is scheduled for the middle of next year, barring delays in NASA's plans to launch a shuttle repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA officials then criticized recent media reports suggesting Ares may be hopelessly, and dangerously, flawed. As ANN reported, an investigative report published by The Orlando Sentinel earlier this week suggested an inherent problem with the rocket's design could lead to a condition known as "liftoff drift," which in the worst-case scenario might cause the rocket to impact the launch tower on liftoff.

That's bunk, said Ares program manager Steve Cook.

"First of all, launch vehicles experience lift-off drift primarily due to winds at the launch pad and it's a manageable phenomenon," he said. "In the very heavy wind conditions that we are designed to -- 34 knots, which is significantly higher than what shuttle uses today -- Ares 1 can use its built-in thrust vector controls to steer away from the pad tower."

Cook -- who, like other NASA officials on the conference call, declined to identify the Sentinel by name -- added another solution to the problem is to simply launch Ares in more favorable wind conditions, negating the risk of drift. The space shuttle is launch-limited to winds less than 19 knots.

"The wind condition that we are concerned about is a southerly wind at 34 knots. In our estimate that would only happen about 0.3 percent of the time in any case," Cook said. "So this is another issue that's been taken very much out of context."

Pointedly noting that "everybody's entitled to an opinion," Cook said Ares naysayers are barking up the wrong tree in suggesting NASA should find another option... especially when everyone involved is concerned about the five-year gap between the September 2010 retirement date for the space shuttle, to the first manned Ares launch.

"I think you've got to stick to the facts of engineering and project management, and the fact that we're three years into this. You'd basically back yourself up three years and start over again, so just watch the gap grow."

FMI: www.nasa.gov/constellation