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mclewis1
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Reged: 02/25/06
Posts: 3961
Loc: New Brunswick, Canada
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Wasn't exactly a stellar day for NASA. Payload shroud didn't cleanly separate and the first stage is apparently damaged ... likely from the fall into the ocean. There is some word that all three large parachutes didn't deploy correctly (2 out off 3).
Clive your comment about how violent the big solids are reminded me of something. During the ascent it sounded to me like they varied the thrust of that first stage. Right after going supersonic I thought they said something about "max q" and then something like the "throttle up" command that the shuttle gets at this point ... it's the point of maximum g loading on the ascent and they throttle back the shuttle to reduce the g's for a short period and then resume max thrust. Anyhow, if I'm not hearing things just exactly how the heck do they vary the thrust level on the solid fuel rocket first stage of Ares?
Clive, you reminded me of a second item too ... That strange vertical oscillation (Pogo) that almost took out one of the Apollo flights is something that NASA is really concerned about with a single large first stage under a very long rocket. The shuttle was effectively short and fat so Pogo'ing wasn't an issue. Going back to the classic long rocket shape with a really powerful first stage apparently opens the door for this issue again. It sure is going to be a wild ride for those "biological payloads" on the Ares flights.
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Mark
C11, C6, APM/TMB115, and AT80ED - Tandem mount CGE and CG-5A, WO EZ-Touch and AT Voyager
25x100s and 8x56s, T-Mount Light, Mark 1 eyeballs - Modded 350D, DSI-P, SPC900, Mallincam
Just because you can doesn't necessarily mean that you should
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imjeffp
Aluminum Falcon
Reged: 09/30/03
Posts: 4902
Loc: Cedar Park, Texas
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Quote:
Anyhow, if I'm not hearing things just exactly how the heck do they vary the thrust level on the solid fuel rocket first stage of Ares?
I assume there's a variation in the propellant that varies with its position in the casing, sort of a layering thing. I don't know for sure, but it makes sense.
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mclewis1
Thread Killer
Reged: 02/25/06
Posts: 3961
Loc: New Brunswick, Canada
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Jeff, That was my first thought as well. I remember reading something years ago (from Thiokol I think) about the theoretical ability to tune the performance of a solid rocket engine with propellant changes (composition and size of the center void I assume) in one or more of the segments that make up the engine. I didn't know if it had actually been done for a flight.
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Mark
C11, C6, APM/TMB115, and AT80ED - Tandem mount CGE and CG-5A, WO EZ-Touch and AT Voyager
25x100s and 8x56s, T-Mount Light, Mark 1 eyeballs - Modded 350D, DSI-P, SPC900, Mallincam
Just because you can doesn't necessarily mean that you should
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Dave Mitsky
Postmaster
Reged: 04/08/02
Posts: 10516
Loc: PA, USA, Planet Earth
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Quote:
Quote:
Ares as in Mars.
I thought they were going with a constellation theme. God of War I doesn't have a nice ring to it. 
Ares is indeed part of the Constellation Program, NASA's plan to return to the Moon and to perhaps travel to Mars. However,...
June 30, 2006 — After months of unofficial, internal use, NASA formally announced names for its next generation of launch vehicles intended to take humans to the Moon, on to Mars and beyond.
Project Ares (pronounced air-eez or ah-rays) includes the agency's crew launch vehicle, now referred to as Ares I, and the cargo launch vehicle, which will be called Ares V.
According to Scott Horowitz, associate administrator for Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the name Ares was borrowed from the Romans' title for the planet Mars and not the constellation or Greek deity.
"We named the vehicle for the Roman use of the word, which is for Mars," Horowitz told reporters at Kennedy Space Center. "We didn't name it after a god of war, that is not our intent."
"A-R-I-E-S is the constellation Aries," explained Horowitz. "A-R-E-S is the Roman name, the synonym for Mars."
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-063006a.html
Dave Mitsky
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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
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Scott Horstman
Vendor- Backyard Observatories
Reged: 03/11/04
Posts: 8074
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Ares, God of War. 
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16395
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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Thank you for the detailed explanation, Dave. 
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Ted
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Dave Mitsky
Postmaster
Reged: 04/08/02
Posts: 10516
Loc: PA, USA, Planet Earth
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Quote:
Ares, God of War.
It's also somewhat amusing that the NASA spokesman didn't know that Mars is the Roman name for Ares. 
Dave Mitsky
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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
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Shadowalker
Unpretentious Rocket Scientist
Reged: 11/23/04
Posts: 3560
Loc: Poplarville, MS, USA
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Yes, the name is after the planet, not the constellation. One of the original Von Braun rockets was the Jupiter. When they started on the next series, they went with the next one out and chose Saturn.
Personally I would have kept that tradition and named the new fleet Uranus. Seems more appropriate.
Nah, I like Ares
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Tom Nicolaides
http://www.first-light.org
My evil self is at that door, and I have no power to stop it
-- Dr. Edward Morbius
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 12945
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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Although the Ares is part of NASA's "Constellation Program", so I can see why there might be some confusion.
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"Since the process of science generates more mysteries than it solves, I predict that we'll never learn everything: and we'll continue to generate new ignorance at the speed of knowledge."
"S.O.E." (Sauron's Other Eye), with 16" Royce conical mirror: A permanent work in progress.
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Under Construction: The "Eye of Sauron" Observatory!
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Renton
member
Reged: 09/21/09
Posts: 38
Loc: Toronto, ON
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More pictures from boston.com:
Launch of the Ares I-X
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