'The Stick' May Be Underpowered

NASA's forthcoming Ares I launch vehicle... nicknamed "The Stick"... might need more oomph.

A report from Spaceref.com suggests the rocket (shown above at right) is underpowered by one metric ton... or maybe more. That means it can't lift the NextGen Orion spacecraft into the orbit NASA requires. The news comes following last week's Systems Requirements Review meeting for the project at Marshall Space Flight Center.

NASA's in the early planning stages to meet President Bush's mandate to return US astronauts to the Moon... and beyond to Mars. The Ares/Orion duo is an essential part of that plan... and engineers are wondering what to do.

Some have suggested side-mounted supplemental rockets, like the successful Boeing Delta, French Ariane and Russian Soyuz launchers. Others, however, suggest a clean-sheet design effort.

While that decision is being debated, NASA is going ahead with plans to build a model of the Ares I launcher for wind tunnel testing early next year. Those tests will simulate aerodynamic conditions at speeds as high as Mach 6 -- the expected velocity at the moment of first-stage booster separation.

FMI: www.nasa.gov