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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ares I | 3/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares_I | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:10:35.169580+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Schedule and cost === NASA completed the Ares I system requirements review in January 2007. Project design was to have continued through the end of 2009, with development and qualification testing running concurrently through 2012. As of July 2009, flight articles were to have begun production towards the end of 2009 for a first launch in June 2011. Since 2006 the first launch of a human was planned for no later than 2014, which is four years after the planned retirement of the Space Shuttle. Delays in the Ares I development schedule due to budgetary pressures and unforeseen engineering and technical difficulties would have increased the gap between the end of the Space Shuttle program and the first operational flight of Ares I. Because the Constellation program was never allocated the funding originally projected, the total estimated cost to develop the Ares I through 2015 rose from $28 billion in 2006 to more than $40 billion in 2009. The Ares I-X project cost was $445 million.
Originally scheduled for first test flights in 2011, the independent analysis by the Augustine Commission found in late 2009 that due to technical and financial problems Ares I was not likely to have had its first crewed launch until 2017–2019 under the current budget, or late 2016 with an unconstrained budget. The Augustine Commission also stated that Ares I and Orion would have an estimated recurring cost of almost $1 billion per flight. However, later financial analysis in March 2010 showed that the Ares I would have cost $1 billion or more to operate per flight had the Ares I flown just once a year. If the Ares I system were flown multiple times a year the marginal costs could have fallen to as low as $138 million per launch. In March 2010, NASA administrator Charlie Bolden testified to congress that the Ares I would cost $4–4.5 billion a year, and $1.6 billion per flight. The Ares I marginal cost was predicted to have been a fraction of the Shuttle's marginal costs even had it flown multiple times per year. By comparison, the cost of launching three astronauts on a crewed Russian Soyuz is $153 million. Representative Robert Aderholt stated in March 2010 that he had received a letter from NASA which claimed that it would have cost $1.1 billion to fly the Ares I rocket three times a year. On February 8, 2011, it was reported that Alliant Techsystems and Astrium proposed to use Ares I's first stage with a second stage derived from the Ariane 5 core stage to form a new rocket named Liberty.
=== Cancellation === On February 1, 2010, President Barack Obama announced a proposal to cancel the Constellation program effective with the U.S. 2011 fiscal year budget, but later announced changes to the proposal in a major space policy speech at Kennedy Space Center on April 15, 2010. In October 2010, the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 was signed into law which canceled Constellation. Previous legislation kept Constellation contracts in force until passage of a new funding bill for 2011.
== Design ==
Ares I had a payload capability in the 25-tonne (28-short-ton; 25-long-ton) class and was comparable to vehicles such as the Delta IV and the Atlas V. The NASA study group that selected what would become the Ares I rated the vehicle as almost twice as safe as an Atlas or Delta IV-derived design.
=== First stage === The first stage was to have been a more powerful and reusable solid fuel rocket derived from the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB). Compared with the Solid Rocket Booster, which had four segments, the most notable difference was the addition of a fifth segment. This fifth segment would have enabled the Ares I to produce more thrust. Other changes made to the Solid Rocket Booster were to have been the removal of the Space Shuttle External Tank (ET) attachment points and the replacement of the Solid Rocket Booster nosecone with a new forward adapter that would have interfaced with the liquid-fueled second stage. The adapter was to have been equipped with solid-fueled separation motors to facilitate the disconnection of the stages during ascent. The grain design was also changed, and so were the insulation and liner. By the Ares I first stage ground test, the case, grain design, number of segments, insulation, liner, throat diameter, thermal protection systems and nozzle had all changed.