Oct 29, 2009

Posted by in NASA, current

First, possibly last flight of Ares

Ares: a successful flight wasted.

Ares: a successful flight wasted.

The prototype of NASA’s new moon rocket flew a test flight yesterday. And it may never fly again.

This is the result of lack of commitment, an expensive and disingenuous game played by politicians seeking credit on big visions of space exploration—which they refuse to fund. Perhaps as a way to blame NASA, people will cite a flaw detected by the test. (They’ve found a dented booster.)

But the fact remains, politicians created and grandstanded over their new visions of a return to the moon, and onto Mars. Both Bush administrations created—and underfunded—these efforts. So, Ares may be discarded and used dishonestly to blame NASA for a failure, when the failure came from Washington, D.C.

What if the Apollo project had been canceled after the first test flight of a Saturn rocket? That’s exactly what they’re trying to do here. I might note: space flight is hard. Vehicles need to be tested, altered, and worked on heavily before they are fit to fly.

The Saturn V’s first test flight shook terribly. It would have killed any astronaut had one been aboard. What did they do? Label it a failure? Discontinue the program?

No. They examined the flight data, determined the problem and developed a solution. And the rest is history. But today, we are watching profiles in cowardice and dishonesty. It’s pretty shameful.

  • Richard Wolfe

    While it is true that NASA is underfunded, I believe the Augustine report was meant to kill the lunar base program: especially the Altair lunar lander, Ares V, and LEO/lunar transport vehicles. Remember, one of Obama’s pre election promises was to reduce NASA”s budget and transfer the money to education. He is no friend of the space program. We will be lucky if we get the Ares I which could at least go to the space station if they let the ISS live past the 7 years they are saying it will take to build the Ares I. Since we are set to retire the shuttle in 2010 we will have to beg/pay for rides from the Russians for 7 years. Just look how well outsourcing has been working for the US lately. We will be throwing away our leadership postion in space. We will become a non space faring 3rd rate space agency behind Russia and China who are able to send men into space. A real Obama banana republic (I voted for him – I couldn’t support the torture party). They suggest alternative destinations like a body in the asteroid belt or Mars knowing full well the transit times would kill everyone from radiation and/or severely compromise their health through bone loss. (Ya, they do also talk about going to a Langrange point which is nothing but emply space.) They know that the moon is the only practical destination at this time other than the space station which they plan to deorbit. Remember if we let all our scientists and legacy know how to build rockets, landers, & transfer vehicles go they may be lost forever! To say that they should be privatised is a lie. These private companies aren’t building landers or orbital transfer vehicles and just have vaporware on the books. It makes no sense to cancel investment in a rocket that has already had a successful test flight that will be man rated when no private company can even send up cargo yet. After they have the Ares I is in place at least to go to the ISS, then contract private companies AFTER they have already had successful tests and a non virtual replacement. Let us build the moon base, Altair, and Ares V. Then outsource to private industry AFTER they have replacements. Where on Earth could the money come from (Iraq Nam, Afganistan Nam, or Pakistan Nam, a sliding scale tax on Congressional lobbyists – say 5% on the first $10K and 25% on anything over that – we’d have the money in no time).

  • Richard Wolfe

    The Augustine commission produced a report that is a pack of lies with some truth for window dressing (NASA’s budget is too small). Obama’s campaign pledge was to cut NASA”s budget. The Augustine’s purpose was to kill the moon colonization program. Space travel to Mars or an asteroid requires nuclear/VASIMR type rockets which are not on the drawing board yet because we cannot get there without dying by radiation and/or bone loss from the long trips that would be required with current chemical rockets, and there is nothing to see at the Lagrange points which is emply space. They knew that the space station is the only thing that we can reach with the shuttle or the Ares which is already being test fired. They knew that the moon is the only dooable destination with chemical rockets. Wouldn’t that be clever to kill the replacement we are building and waste the investment and another 7 years for something to come down the pipeline at NASA or pipedream vaporware from Elon Musk.

  • Richard Wolfe

    While it is true that NASA is underfunded, I believe the Augustine report was meant to kill the lunar base program: especially the Altair lunar lander, Ares V, and LEO/lunar transport vehicles. Remember, one of Obama’s pre election promises was to reduce NASA”s budget and transfer the money to education. He is no friend of the space program. We will be lucky if we get the Ares I which could at least go to the space station if they let the ISS live past the 7 years they are saying it will take to build the Ares I. Since we are set to retire the shuttle in 2010 we will have to beg/pay for rides from the Russians for 7 years. Just look how well outsourcing has been working for the US lately. We will be throwing away our leadership postion in space. We will become a non space faring 3rd rate space agency behind Russia and China who are able to send men into space. A real Obama banana republic (I voted for him – I couldn’t support the torture party). They suggest alternative destinations like a body in the asteroid belt or Mars knowing full well the transit times would kill everyone from radiation and/or severely compromise their health through bone loss. (Ya, they do also talk about going to a Langrange point which is nothing but emply space.) They know that the moon is the only practical destination at this time other than the space station which they plan to deorbit. Remember if we let all our scientists and legacy know how to build rockets, landers, & transfer vehicles go they may be lost forever! To say that they should be privatised is a lie. These private companies aren’t building landers or orbital transfer vehicles and just have vaporware on the books. It makes no sense to cancel investment in a rocket that has already had a successful test flight that will be man rated when no private company can even send up cargo yet. After they have the Ares I is in place at least to go to the ISS, then contract private companies AFTER they have already had successful tests and a non virtual replacement. Let us build the moon base, Altair, and Ares V. Then outsource to private industry AFTER they have replacements. Where on Earth could the money come from (Iraq Nam, Afganistan Nam, or Pakistan Nam, a sliding scale tax on Congressional lobbyists – say 5% on the first $10K and 25% on anything over that – we’d have the money in no time).