Ares I-X Test Flight Concerns

Is this really what we want to return to space in? [Link]

The violent shaking that threatens to destroy the Ares I rocket thatNASA hopes will one day return astronauts to the moon is also threatening to delay — or even cancel — the first flight of its test version, the Ares I-X.

Air Force officials who have safety jurisdiction over all launches from Kennedy Space Center are worried that the rocket's vibrations could knock out the self-destruct mechanism required in case the launch goes awry.

If the Ares I-X went out of control during its scheduled launch Aug. 30, and the destruct mechanism failed, the rocket could threaten populated areas along the Space Coast.

And the possibility that the $360million prototype will veer off course is a real risk, according to both the Air Force 45th Space Wing and NASA managers, because the rocket's vibrations could also wreck its steering system, known as the Thrust Vector Control, or TVC.

"There are [sound waves and vibrations during the ascent] both that affect components of the Thrust Vector Control system as well as the Flight Termination System," said Jon Cowart, NASA's deputy Ares I-X program manager, in an interview.

"For the TVC system ... it jeopardizes our ability, supposedly, to control the rocket. And this is something, of course, that the [Air Force] would be concerned about. They don't want us to veer off course."

The shaking problem, known as thrust oscillation, occurs because Ares' first stage is a stack of solid-rocket-booster segments like those used on the space shuttle. Because of the way the solid rocket fuel burns in its tubular casing, it generates harmonic vibrations that turn the rocket into a giant tuning fork — and threaten to shake it to bits.