Constellation (Cx)

cIclops · 2007-10-01 10:46:17

Constellation is the name NASA gives to its new transportation architecture.

This topic is for updates and discussion of the whole Constellation program.

There are also topics for these parts of Constellation:

Orion - crew capsule, service module and launch abort system (LAS)

Ares I - two stage crew launch vehicle

Ares V - heavy cargo launcher and Earth Departure Stage (EDS)

These forums cover other related elements:

Altair - Lunar Lander - vehicle for crew and cargo

Lunar Outpost - permanent base

cIclops · 2007-10-01 10:53:31

Kennedy Prepares to Host Constellation - 28 Sep 2007

Launch Pad 39B
Role in Constellation: Launch complex for the Ares I-X and operational flights of the Ares I rocket.
Status: Launch Pad 39B has hosted its last planned space shuttle launch, though it will be kept ready in case an emergency flight is called for during the last Hubble Space Telescope repair mission in September 2008. Then major work will begin.

Vehicle Assembly Building
Role in Constellation: The giant hangar used to stack the Saturn V rocket and space shuttles will retain that role in the Constellation Program. It is the only structure at Kennedy tall enough to accommodate the Ares rockets.
Status: The building's high bay 3 is undergoing minor changes to handle the Ares I-X rocket. The new vehicle is about 150 feet taller than the shuttle orbiter, so bigger changes will be needed for the final Ares I design. Work platforms similar to those used in Apollo will give workers the access they need to stack the pieces and process the rocket for launch.

Launch Control Center Firing Room 1
Role in Constellation: Firing Room 1 already holds the distinction of overseeing the first launch of a space shuttle and supporting the Apollo Program. Now it is poised to take on the task of controlling the first launch of the shuttles' replacement.
Status: The expansive room inside the Launch Control Center is gutted and the windows on the doors are papered over. It won't stay that way for long, though, because NASA wants members of its launch team to begin practicing with the new equipment and procedures in summer 2008.

Assembly and Refurbishment Facility
Role in Constellation: The Assembly and Refurbishment Facility processes the nosecones and aft skirts of the shuttle solid rocket boosters before they are bolted onto the fueled segments. The Ares 1 doesn't require a booster nosecone, but the aft skirt for the test flight is already being prepped.
Status: Engineers are modifying the aft skirt so it can behave a bit differently as the main booster for the Ares I. C.J. Smith of United Space Alliance noted the small rockets that push a booster away from a shuttle during launch will be used to help separate the upper stage from the solid rocket after the first part of the flight.

Parachute Refurbishment Facility
Role in Constellation: Parachutes will allow controlled returns to Earth for both the Orion capsule and the Ares I solid rocket booster. The refurbishment center is getting the first parachutes of the program ready and will overhaul them for reuse.
Status: Parachutes are already being stitched for upcoming drop tests in Yuma, Ariz.

Mobile Launch Platforms
Role in Constellation: NASA will stick with mobile launch platforms throughout the Constellation Program, the same concept it has used since the Saturn V. Earlier rockets were small enough to be assembled at the pad. For the 2009 test flight, workers will modify one of the three existing launch platforms to handle the Ares I stack. The 2012 test flight and subsequent launches will use a new mobile platform design.
Status: NASA has awarded a contract to Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc., located at Merritt Island, Fla., for the design of a new mobile launcher structure dedicated to the Ares I. The platform will hold the rocket and the service structure.

Crawler-transporters
The work of the crawler-transporters is far from finished. After hauling Saturn Vs to the launch pad during Apollo and Skylab and carrying space shuttles back and forth from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pads for almost 30 years, the crawlers are nowhere near retirement. The vehicles are planned to carry the new rockets, launch platforms and service gantries to the launch complexes.
Status: There are no major overhauls planned for the beefy vehicles, but they will need a little more muscle in the form of reinforcement to carry the Ares rockets. NASA is working to use the crawlers “as-is” for Ares I, but the Ares V will require more carrying capacity. Phillips said studies are ongoing to determine exactly how much work the crawlers will need.

SpaceNut · 2007-10-01 11:47:19

Is there a way to change the topic into a sticky so that it will stay on top.

A few missing parts are still yet to come in how the system will be used for NEO, Mars and beyond as it was indicated in the initial vision release as well as the many threads of descusion.

cIclops · 2007-10-01 12:08:24

Yes it can be made a sticky ... isn't it better to let it float depending on what people want to discuss?

cIclops · 2007-10-01 13:03:44

Proposals for Constellation Moon Suit - 1 Oct 2007

WASHINGTON - NASA has issued a request for proposals from industry for the design, development and production of a new spacesuit system for Constellation Program voyages to the International Space Station and the moon.
The Constellation spacesuit system contract is for design, development, test, evaluation and production of equipment to support astronauts aboard the Orion crew exploration vehicle. Orion will carry astronauts on trips to explore the moon and support the space station in the next decade. NASA expects to award the contract in June 2008.
The suit and support systems will enable protection against spacecraft cabin leaks and provide contingency spacewalk capability. For short lunar exploration sorties, the suit also must support a week's worth of moon walks in one-sixth gravity. Potentially, the system will support multiple spacewalks during six-month lunar outpost stays. Suits and support systems will be needed for as many as four moon voyagers per trip or six space station travelers.
Prospective contractors are being asked to develop a system that minimizes mass, volume and carry weight; donning time; maintenance requirements; suit logistics; operational overhead; life cycle costs; and operational constraints on the lunar surface in varying geographical, solar and thermal conditions. The same spacesuit system also must maximize pressurized and unpressurized crew comfort, range of motion, reliability and work efficiency throughout multiple suit uses. Designers are being asked to incorporate flexibility and modularity to allow for efficient incorporation of future upgrades.
The cost-plus-award-fee contract will include a basic performance period from June 2008 to September 2013. The performance period involves design, development, test and evaluation work leading up to manufacture; assembly and first flight of the suit components needed for Orion; and the initial work on the suit components needed for the lunar surface.
Two contract option periods will be available. Option 1 would cover completion of design, development, test and evaluation for the surface suit components. Option 2 would provide for suit production under a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract structure and sustaining engineering under a cost-plus-award-fee structure from the end of the basic performance period through September 2018.
To view the request for Constellation Spacesuit System proposals, visit:
http://procurement.jsc.nasa.gov/csss

Rxke · 2007-10-02 00:38:00

The cost-plus-award-fee contract

Sigh.... So it'll be overly expensive

Tom Kalbfus · 2007-10-02 11:37:15

The cost-plus-award-fee contract

Sigh.... So it'll be overly expensive

But NASA is abandoning Low Earth Orbit.

The ISS will remain in Low Earth Orbit and remain as a destination for other people's Low Earth Orbit vehicles. I think a prize system to develop vehicles for reaching Low Earth Orbit would be quite viable, as were asking private companies to build vehicles to a place we have operated in for 50 years. I would like to see cheaper commerical transports to Low Earth Orbit, and if the become cheap enough, then we can begin to consider missions that require assembly in Low Earth Orbit, and mabey then the Giant Ares V rockets won't be quite so neccesary.

cIclops · 2007-10-03 06:31:29

Sigh.... So it'll be overly expensive

The solicitation is for proposals, these will be competed on price as well as specification. The requirement is for a product that only NASA will use initially, which company is willing to develop such a specialized one off product with its own money? Cost plus is the traditional way of doing this, it works. What's the alternative?

Tom Kalbfus · 2007-10-03 08:15:37

Sigh.... So it'll be overly expensive
The solicitation is for proposals, these will be competed on price as well as specification. The requirement is for a product that only NASA will use initially, which company is willing to develop such a specialized one off product with its own money? Cost plus is the traditional way of doing this, it works. What's the alternative?

NASA could sponsor an official Space Race with prize money, this was mentioned in the back of The Case for Mars. I think with current funds the prize could be "Gold" $40 billion, "Silver" $20 billion, and Bronze $10 billion - a total eventual expenditure of $70 billion dollars. Also NASA and other customers such as China and the ESA might want to purchase additional copies for further expeditions. Landing on the Moon has been done before, it is nothing new. Also the money is only rewarded upon completion of the mission, that means initially only private money will be spent. The compeditors can start now once NASA makes the official announcement with Congressional Authorization, NASA can continue launching the Shuttle while private companies begin building their spaceships, and it won't affect the next two years of expenditures as the companies will most likely not be ready to launch their missions.

Perhaps the Chinese and the Europeans might even be pursuaded to contribute to the pot.

Austin Stanley · 2007-10-04 15:51:44

Actually I don't think an award system is to bad of an idea for a system with limited goals, objectives, and price like a moon suit. Award a prize of say $25-50 million to the suit that best completes the goals for a moon suit design. Universities and what not will be all over it. NASA then owns the design and can contract out the production of the suit or do it internally. I think prizes could work well with small scale goals like this.

Tom Kalbfus · 2007-10-04 16:35:26

There is a prize for putting a rover on the Moon.

I'm not sure if a manned Moon landing should be considered big, since we did it 38 years ago, it is nothing new, and were just asking to see which companies can replicate the results of Apollo but with 4 people on the Moon instead of two. Business as usual cost plus leads to bloated budgets and the program could suffer the same fate as Apollo. What we really need to do is reduce the cost of getting there. I'm not sure NASA and its cost-plus contractors are as cost conscious as they should be. I don't want to merely replicate the results of the Apollo Program by 2030 or do it a tiny bit better. The technology of today should allow for better options, we need people who are willing to take risks to lower the costs, then we can afford a much bigger Moonbase and go to Mars at the same time rather than treating it like we're still living in the mid twentieth century. I'm sure an automated factory that turns out rocket boosters could produce cheaper rockets than the hands on assembly lines of the 1960s. The less labor content, the cheaper the product. I'm tired of these expensive space spectatulars and would like to open the way for mass-migration into space. There must be a few clever ideas that have yet to be exploited by those business as usual cautious types.

Mars_B4_Moon · 2007-10-04 16:37:29

This vision looks great, but once you look bellow the glossy surface and hot power point shows you start to see little flaws emerging.

One big flaw is the stick

Ares I - two stage crew launch vehicle

CLV the weak link in the chain. Negative reaction has been growing against this design from day one.

http://blog-in-the-box.blogspot.com/200 … ogram.html
The Ares I is going to be, essentially, a larger, more dangerous SSRB.

NASA's initial internal estimate of what it would cost to modify the current SRB used for Shuttle missions to serve as the first stage of the new Crew Launch Vehicle had been around $1 billion. That estimate has been revised up to around $3 billion.
http://www.transterrestrial.com/archives/006816.html
Nice bait and switch--you have to admire ATK for their marketing, if nothing else.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5014
Initial testing of the parachute recovery system for the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle's first stage booster had been going to plan before the FAILURE

Scrap The Stick Now
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Scrap … k_Now.html

www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/309/5734/540
Operating costs for the single-stick series would run about $3 billion a year--approximately $1 billion less than the shuttle cost before Columbia's failure

Scrap it, get it replaced and the vision may be a success.

Now if only the could forget returning to the Moon and move onto putting people on Mars

cIclops · 2007-10-05 00:50:16

The attack on Ares I has been ongoing by people who think they have a better design ever since ESAS decided to go for a 1.5 architecture based on heritage systems.

Your points:

"The Ares I is going to be, essentially, a larger, more dangerous SSRB."

Ares I and V will use an extended Shuttle RSRB, this is based on the safest most reliable human launcher ever built. It has flown 238 times with only 1 failure 20 years ago. Extensive modifications after the Challenger accident have been flight proven.

"NASA's initial internal estimate of what it would cost to modify the current SRB used for Shuttle missions to serve as the first stage of the new Crew Launch Vehicle had been around $1 billion. That estimate has been revised up to around $3 billion. "

Yet another baseless rumor, the contract with ATK for the modified SRB was signed recently for $1.8 billion

"Initial testing of the parachute recovery system for the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle's first stage booster had been going to plan before the FAILURE"

Failures happen during testing. This week there was a successful test

"Operating costs for the single-stick series would run about $3 billion a year--approximately $1 billion less than the shuttle cost before Columbia's failure"

Ares I is being designed for low operational costs, AFAIK they have not released any numbers. $3 billion sounds like yet another made up figure.

"Now if only the could forget returning to the Moon and move onto putting people on Mars" (sic)

Using the Moon to develop the technology and systems for Mars missions is a very good plan, with enough funding it need not delay human missions to Mars, it ought to make them happen sooner.

Tom Kalbfus · 2007-10-05 09:32:50

Your right, that has been what I was arguing, yet the assumption has been that NASA cannot do two things at the same time. Astronauts can only be at one part of the Solar System at a time. I think this has got to change, we're in the 21st century after all, mankind should be all over the inner Solar System. I think we've been a bit too timid in investigating new technologies. If I'm going to have to live to be 63 just to see a replay of Apollo, then I don't think it was worth it. I want to see dozens of people in space or even hundreds, not just a handful. I want to see humanity make some progress in space travel before I die.

cIclops · 2007-10-05 10:56:43

Exactly so Tom, it's only a question of when. NASA can lead the way and commerce will follow closer and closer behind. Other agencies have their own priorities, they will cooperate and compete. There's plenty of space for everyone!

cIclops · 2007-10-21 11:00:12

Program Manager’s Status (PDF) - 2 Oct 2007

Overview
Initial Operational Capability – September 2013 (internal plan)
♦
Reserves to support Agency IOC commitment of March 2015 at 65% confidence level
♦
Full Operational Capability – September 2014
♦
Updated Test and Verification Strategy
♦
Ares I - five segment SRB, J2X US engine
♦
Orion – 606 POD Configuration (carried in Threats List)
♦
Ground Ops – all launches from LC-39
♦
EVA – single system suit architecture
♦
Ares V – ATP 2011
♦
Lander – ATP 2011
♦
Human Lunar Return – June 2019 (internal plan)

cIclops · 2007-10-23 03:46:46

Constellation looks to take off by 2013 - 23 Oct 2007

BY PATRICK PETERSON
FLORIDA TODAY
CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA officials unveiled an ambitious testing schedule Monday that forecasts a shorter gap between the end of the space shuttle program and the first test flight with a crewed of the proposed Ares I rocket and Orion crew exploration vehicle.
The Ares-Orion system, together known as Constellation, is now targeted to launch astronauts on a test flight to the International Space Station in September 2013, only three years after the shuttle program ends in 2010. The third and final crewed Ares I test flight is scheduled for September 2014. While operational flights would not begin until 2015, the U.S. might have the capability to get people to the ISS two years earlier, possibly making NASA less dependent on the Russians if the test flights remain on track.
The firming up of the launch schedule could be good news for Brevard County.
Some officials had estimated the system might not be available for human flights until 2014 or 2015, although NASA has said it wanted to accelerate plans. The shorter the gap between the shuttle and its replacement, the fewer space jobs may be affected at KSC.
NASA has spread work for the Ares rocket program across the 10 NASA centers, including Kennedy Space Center, where work on the parachutes is taking place. KSC also will be the launch operations center for the new rockets and the Orion human spacecraft envisioned to replace the shuttles. KSC also will be home to the final assembly and integration of the crew vehicle. Work on the transition is already under way.
"We're managing three major programs together (shuttle, ISS and Constellation). We're distributing the work," Constellation program deputy manager Mark Geyer said.
The long, skinny launch vehicle uses a modified space shuttle solid rocket booster to push a second-stage, and crewed-led spaceship toward orbit. The single-stick booster burns for just 120 seconds before falling back to the ocean, just like the solid rocket boosters on the space shuttle system.
"We believe the trajectory works just fine in this case," Geyer said.
The Constellation program begins with six development flight tests through February 2011, and continues with five validation flight tests that end in September 2014.
"As long as things go relatively well, we can make it," said Bob Ess, manager of the Ares 1-X Project.
Funding from Congress is one of the program's intangibles. The current long-term funding plans call for the agency to get budget increases similar to inflation to pay for its proposed moon-landing program.
In December of this year, the final design decisions on the Orion spacecraft and the crew vehicle will be made. Some 5,000 pounds have been trimmed from the crew module and second stage to make sure that the launch vehicle's first stage can handle the weight.
"Our big challenge was to get the weight down," said Mark Kirasich, deputy manager of the Orion Project. "We've made substantial progress in the past couple of months."

cIclops · 2007-10-24 02:13:51

Exploration Briefing video 45:56 mins - 22 Oct 2007

Presentations from:
- Mark Geyer, Deputy Manager, Constellation progam
- Mark Kirasich, Deputy Manager, Orion project
- Bob Ess, Manager Ares 1-X

Key Points:
o Orion 1 will be a full test of Ares I and the Orion capsule, planned date March 2013!
o Orion 2 is first launch with crew and will dock with ISS planned date September 2013 and deliver a LIDS adapter
o Orion 3 will deliver second docking adapter
o New Launch Abort System (LAS) adapter rounded shape is now baselined
o Video of Orion parachute drop test
o Video of Orion test article to be used for first pad abort test (PA-1)
o Animation of PA-1
o New launch pad under construction for LAS tests

Comments during questions:
o Crew launch risks quoted as LOM 1 in 200, LOC 1 in 500
o Orion weight reduction exercise almost complete
o Design 607 should be finalized beginning November, used as reference for PDR

cIclops · 2007-10-25 03:17:44

More charts from the Exploration briefing - 22 Oct 2007

Notes:

Sep 2012: Ares I-Y - test of full system without J-2X engine, includes high altitude abort

Mar 2013: Orion 1 - first test of complete system including Orion orbit and reentry

Sep 2013: Orion 2 - first crewed flight test includes docking with ISS and delivery of LIDS adapter (IOC)

Mar 2014: Orion 3 - second crewed flight test, delivers second LIDS to ISS

Sep 2014: Orion 4 - validates Orion attached to ISS for six months

Mar 2015: Full operational capability

cIclops · 2007-10-30 12:12:43

New Center Assignments for Moon Exploration - 30 Oct 2007

WASHINGTON - NASA announced Tuesday which agency centers will take responsibility for specific work to enable astronauts to explore the moon. The new assignments cover elements of the lunar lander and lunar surface operations. The agency also announced work assignments for Ares V, a heavy-lift rocket for lunar missions.
"NASA's Constellation Program is making real progress toward sending astronauts to the moon," said Rick Gilbrech, associate administrator for Exploration Systems, NASA Headquarters, Washington. "Work on our new fleet of rockets and spacecraft, Ares I and Orion, is already well under way. With these new assignments, NASA will launch the next phase of its exploration strategy - landing crews and cargo on the surface of the moon."

center-by-center breakdown of assignments

publiusr · 2007-11-09 14:54:59

Thanks for the links.

cIclops · 2007-11-17 06:00:51

(11/09/2007) --- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the crane crawler puts a piling into place to be pounded into the ground to help construct lightning towers for the Constellation Program and Ares/Orion launches. Pad B will be the site of the first Ares vehicle launch, including Ares I-X which is scheduled for April 2009. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton

More real work!

cIclops · 2007-12-02 04:06:04

From Formulation of NASA's Constellation Program (PDF) - October 2007

This paper describes the rationale behind the formulation of the Constellation Program, including organizational structure, and workforce structure, as well as the approaches to requirements generation, budget formulation, operational philosophies, and procurement strategies.

Interesting read for Zero-Based Requirements (ZBR) approach and Confidence Level budgeting.

cIclops · 2007-12-10 14:31:40

NASA audio news briefing 10 Dec 2007 by

- Rick Gilbrech, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
- Carl Walz, director of advanced capabilities for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
- Jeff Hanley, Constellation Program manager

Briefing audio - (approx 1 hour)

Main points:

o Orion water landing baselined for Point of Departure (POD) review but no decision on land or water landing mode

o Orion Lunar and ISS mission weight margins closed

o Ares I avionics contract award expected this week

o Land mode estimated to require 680 kg of airbags

o Less risk in water landing, however, contingency land mode is required

o No substantial difference in recovery costs between water and land modes

o Life cycle costs for land mode lower (more reuse)

o J-2 power pack to be test fired early January 2008

o Orion capsule structure to be fabricated in 2008 at MAF

o Ares I upper stage parts to be fabricated in February 2008 at MSFC

o Requirements for Constellation space suit to be defined by Spring 2008

o All Constellation system requirements complete by Summer 2008

cIclops · 2007-12-12 03:12:06

Orion/Ares Stack Moves Preliminary Design

Dec 10, 2007
By Frank Morring, Jr.
With a lot of scrubbing and starting over behind them, engineers working on NASA' Orion crew exploration vehicle and its Ares I launcher are moving into detailed design on a stack they believe can deliver its targeted payload to orbit with thousands of pounds to spare.
On the Orion capsule, prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s engineers are beginning to flesh out the latest vehicle concept for preliminary design review next September. The Ares I program is moving into early production on the first of its five-segment shuttle-derived solid-fuel first stages, for a static test on the ground in April 2009, and settling on the advanced tooling that will be used to build the cryogenic upper stage at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
Technical issues remain open across the stack, including how the Orion will land and how to meld the powerful solid-fuel first stage and capsule. But engineering managers across the Orion/Ares I organizations consider those issues typical of a spacecraft at this relatively early stage of development, and solvable. After two months of reviews and top-level briefings, their bosses at NASA headquarters agree.
"It's very interactive" says Caris A. (Skip) Hatfield, who shepherded the Orion through its weight scrub as program manager. "It's not like you can create a launch vehicle and life is good, without doing any additional assessment. Issues come up as the design matures. And as load cases become more clear, we have to go back and look at them jointly. Changes we make affect the launch vehicle. Changes the launch vehicle makes affect us. But overall we're working very closely together to make sure we mitigate all those, and at this point there are no showstoppers.”
But while senior managers consider the technical issues within bounds, money remains the ultimate pacing item for a U.S. return to human spaceflight after the shuttle is retired in 2010. Right now the best estimate for Orion’s first docking at the International Space Station is March 2015, at current funding levels.
"If we had all the money we could use, we could bring Ares and Orion back to fall 2013, notionally September,” says Administrator Michael Griffin. “Now, that would require a total of about $2 billion spread over the next three or four years. Beyond that, we can't do it no matter how much money you give us."
Overall, Griffin says, the men and women developing the vehicles are doing "incredibly well." Mass is always a problem in spacecraft development, he notes, and the Orion and Ares I programs have handled it while retaining a collective margin for growth of more than 20% (see charts above and p. 53) reflecting the latest mass margins for missions to the ISS and the Moon.
"We need to focus on kilograms from day one until launch, but with ample mass margin across the vehicle we can close the lunar architecture today, and I expect it will only get better," Griffin says.
Getting there wasn't easy for the Orion program, which has just finished a top-to-bottom weight scrub that essentially involved starting over (see p. 56). Now, Lockheed Martin can tackle finding out what the vehicle actually weighs.
"This is a period where you really get to a lot of reality, [where] you compare the allowances you've allocated with the actual components that come out of the preliminary design,” says Cleon Lacefield, Lockheed Martin’s Orion program manager. “You’re not out of the woods until you get to CDR [critical design review], but this allows us to really put a lot of engineering into maintaining where we're at."
In some areas subsystem designs are well understood and can be inserted in Orion with "high confidence," Lacefield says. Those include fans, fan motors, heat exchangers and even the mechanism to deploy the circular solar arrays that give Orion its distinctive appearance in space. Those arrays and their deployment devices are drawn from the Phoenix Mars probe Lockheed Martin built for NASA, which is due to land in the north polar region of the red planet next May.
"There are some others that we're trying to put some real engineering into to make sure we haven’t missed anything," Lacefield says, mentioning the fairing panels on the sides of the Orion service module that will be jettisoned after the upper-stage engine ignites to save weight (see pp. 56-57).
Manufacturing already has started at Ares I first-stage prime contractor ATK on building the initial five-segment ground-test version of the four-segment space shuttle solid rocket booster that forms the basis for the stage. The mandrel that will be used to pour propellant for the stage's new forward segment is nearing completion, and other components are underway as well.
The Saturn-heritage J2-X Ares I upper-stage engine remains the pacing item for the whole stack from a technical standpoint. Hot-fire power-pack testing could begin at Stennis Space Center early next month, depending on preliminary cold-flow testing getting underway now. A new test stand is under construction at Stennis to permit high-altitude start tests of the engine. But even with design heritage going back to the 1960s, NASA managers concede, the J2-X will essentially be a new engine (see p. 61).
Overall, though, advances in the computer analysis used to design new vehicles are helping Ares I engineers identify problems earlier in the design cycle. Work remains on track for a four-segment “Ares I-X” flight test with a dummy fifth segment, upper stage and Orion that is also scheduled for April 2009. Like the five-segment ground test that month, the flight test will generate more data for the computers on the complex forces at work as the long, narrow "single-stick" solid/liquid hybrid launcher lifts off (see p. 60).
Across NASA and its contractors, work is already underway on the infrastructure changes that will be needed to accommodate the new vehicles in the post-shuttle era. Nowhere will that be more evident than at Kennedy Space Center, where the final vehicles will be assembled, and where managers already are wrestling with the task of switching launch facilities to test the new vehicle while still flying the old one

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