Ares I-X
Ares I-X before launch
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| Mission type | Test flight |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| Mission duration | ~6 minutes until splashdown 2 minute powered flight |
| Distance travelled | 240 kilometers (150 mi) |
| Apogee | 46 kilometres (150,000 ft) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | October 28, 2009, 15:30 UTC |
| Rocket | Ares I prototype |
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39B |
| End of mission | |
| Decay date | October 28, 2009 |
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Ares I-X was the first-stage prototype and design concept demonstrator in the Ares I program, a launch system for human spaceflight developed by the United States space agency, NASA. Ares I-X was successfully launched on October 28, 2009. The project cost was $445 million.
The Ares I-X vehicle used in the test flight was similar in shape, mass, and size to the planned configuration of later Ares I vehicles, but had largely dissimilar internal hardware consisting of only one powered stage. Ares I vehicles were intended to launch Orion crew exploration vehicles. Along with the Ares V launch system and the Altair lunar lander, Ares I and Orion were part of NASA's Constellation Program, which was developing the spacecraft for U.S. human spaceflight after the Space Shuttle fleet was retired.
Ares I-X was the first test flight of a launch vehicle like the Ares I. The test flight objectives included:
The flight also had several secondary objectives, including:
The Ares I-X flight profile closely approximated the flight conditions that the Ares I would expect to experience through Mach 4.5, at an altitude of about 130,000 feet (39,600 m) and through a maximum dynamic pressure (“Max Q”) of approximately 800 pounds per square foot (38 kPa).
The Ares I-X flight profile resembled the uncrewed Saturn I flights of the 1960s, which tested the Saturn propulsion concept.
By flying the vehicle through first-stage separation, the test flight also verified the performance and dynamics of the Ares I solid rocket booster in a “single stick” arrangement, which is different from the solid rocket booster’s then-current “double-booster” configuration alongside the external tank on the space shuttle.
The Ares I–X vehicle consisted of a functional four-segment solid rocket booster (SRB) stage, a fifth segment mass simulator, an upper-stage simulator (USS), which was similar in shape and heavier than the actual upper stage, as well as a simulated Orion crew module (CM) and launch abort system (LAS). Since the actual upper-stage hardware could not be produced in time for the flight test, the upper-stage mass simulator allowed the booster to fly approximately the same trajectory through the first stage of flight. The USS and the CM/LAS mass simulators launched by the Ares I-X were not recovered and fell into the Atlantic Ocean. The first stage, including the fifth segment mass simulator, was recovered to retrieve flight data recorders and reusable equipment.
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