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VIRTUALISATION Bigger is better in rocketry and astronomy
VIRTUALISATION Bigger is better in rocketry and astronomy | Bigger is better in rocketry and astronomy |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Thursday, 15 January 2009 | |
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According to the NASA press release Giant Rockets Could Revolutionize Astronomy, “Ares V is the rocket that will deliver NASA's next manned lunar lander to the moon as well as all the cargo needed for a lunar base.” It continues to describe the Ares V rocket: “Its roomy shroud could hold about eight school buses, and the rocket will pack enough power to boost almost 180,000 kg (396,000 lbs -- about 16 or 17 school buses) into low Earth orbit. Ares V can haul six times more mass and three times the volume the space shuttle can." The shroud is the top component of the Ares V, followed by the second-stage rocket (similar to the upper stage used on the Saturn V rocket), the first-stage rocket (using both solid propellants like in the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters and liquid propellants like in the shuttle’s external tank), and various other components. The Ares V, which is NASA’s cargo launch component of its new manned space program (Constellation), will launch the Earth Departure Stage and Altair lunar lander for missions to the Moon. Used only to launch unmanned cargo into space, the Ares V will be used along with the Ares I, which will launch astronauts into space. An image of what all thoseeight school buses would look like inside the Ares V is shown on this same NASA webpage mentioned earlier. [Now, wouldn’t that be an out-of-this-world school project for kids in the United States? (Actually, the Ares V is not equipped to send humans to space, only unpressurized cargo, but such an educational program was interesting to imagine, just the same!)] This article continues on page two with comments made by Dr. Thronson, along with comparisons with this new Ares rocket and past launch vehicles as to how much cargo (specifically, telescopes) they each can carry. |
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