Ares I-X Stacking Delayed by Vibration Issues; Launch Likely to Slip into October

NASA's Ares I rocket lifts off in this artist's conception. (Credit: NASA)

Vibration Analysis Delays Ares I-X Stacking
Aviation Week

Crews at Kennedy Space Center will wait to start stacking the Ares I-X test vehicle so engineers will have more time to analyze three vibration-loads issues that could threaten range safety during its suborbital test flight, which probably will slip into October.

Stacking is expected to begin the week of July 6. Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley, who oversees development of the Ares I crew launch vehicle, said July 2 that the extra analysis may give test managers more confidence that they won’t have to destack the vehicle later to correct one of three potential problems. If it doesn’t, more work may be necessary before stacking can begin.

One of the issues involves concerns by some engineers that the shaking of the four-segment space shuttle solid-rocket booster that forms the active portion of the Ares I-X stack will overwhelm the hydraulic mechanism that drives the thrust vector control system that helps guide the vehicle during powered flight.

Engineers also want more calculations on whether the vibrations would disable the avionics box linking the flight termination system on the vehicle with the range safety officers who would destroy it if it veers off course. And they want extra analysis on whether any of the secondary structures inside the steel boilerplate simulating the Ares I upper stage – ladders, railings and the like – could shake loose during launch and damage instrumentation or other hardware.

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