A Modern Rocket: The Constellation Program and the Ares V
The most recent rocket developed by NASA was the Ares V, which was designed to be the launch component of the program to replace the Space Shuttle, or the Constellation Program. While it was ultimately canceled, the Ares V still represents the pinnacle of NASA’s design efforts in rocketry. The Ares V consists of a two stage rocket. The first stage is very similar to the technology utilized by the space shuttle. Two solid rocket boosters flank one larger liquid fueled rocket (NASA, “Next Generation Launch Vehicles”), forming the first stage, which is designed to get the Ares V out of Earth’s atmosphere. The second stage utilizes a J-2 X engine, a liquid fueled booster that is designed to take care of the crew’s extraterrestrial travel needs – most guidance is taken care of by the first stage upon the exit of the Earth’s atmosphere. The Ares V rocket system is designed to be used for a variety of activities – whether it be launching payloads into low earth orbit for the International Space Station, or transporting cargo or a crew to the moon and beyond. For missions of that nature, the Ares V would have been used in conjunction with the Crew Exploration Vehicle that had been in development by NASA. The Crew Exploration Vehicle, along with the astronauts, would have been launched into space by the separate Ares I rocket. After both rockets were launched, the CEV, carrying the astronauts, would dock with the second stage of the Ares V, and then continue on to the moon (NASA, “Next Generation Launch Vehicles”). As such, the Ares V was designed to be used primarily for the transportation of various cargoes and payloads to space. Though the Ares rocket was scrapped, along with the entire Constellation Program, for budgetary reasons, it would have been an incredibly important rocket in terms of the history of aeronautics, at least in theory.
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