William Atkins
Saturday, 29 August 2009 19:43
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 3
In related space news, the Ares 1rocket that is scheduled to be part of the new Constellation program (which will replace the retiring space shuttle fleet) had its first complete test firing canceled on Thursday, August 27, 2009.
The test was conducted near Promontory, Utah at the testing facility of the developing company (Alliant Techsystems, Inc. [
ATK]) in Box Elder County.
The horizontal-positioned rocket test was canceled with only twenty seconds left in the countdown when an auxiliary motor in a power unit that controls hydraulic tilt in the nozzle of the rocket failed.
Apparently, the problem lies in a faulty value that supplies fuel to the rocket.
NASA engineer Pat Lampton stated,
"One side functioned properly and came up to speed. The other side, we had an anomaly where the fuel did not get to the auxiliary power unit." [AP/Chicago Tribune: “
ATK Rocket Test Firing Cancelled Over Hydraulic Issue”]
The first-stage 321-foot (100-meter) Ares 1 rocket uses 450,000 kilograms of chemical propellant (an equivalent weight of one million pounds) to take its Orion payload 48,000 meters (190,000 feet) into the air.
The first-stage then falls away for the second-stage to take over in order to propel the Orion capsule further into space.
Page three concludes.
