Rocket science

[AdamSmith]

Will NASA never get its mojo back? Buzz Aldrin's indictment of the current return-to-moon program:

Why We Need Better Rockets

By Buzz Aldrin

Well, it looked spectacular.

I'm referring to NASA's recent launch of the Ares 1-X, billed as the prototype of the Ares 1 as a crew launch vehicle, a fancy term for a manned space booster. The rocket is said to have performed as planned, and ushered in the era of the Ares rockets to replace the Space Shuttle next year. Only it won't. In fact, the much-hyped Ares 1-X was much ado about nothing.

Yes, the rocket that thundered aloft from NASA's Launch Pad 39B sure looked like an Ares 1. But that's where the resemblance stops. Turns out the solid booster was - literally - bought from the Space Shuttle program, since a five-segment booster being designed for Ares wasn't ready. So they put a fake can on top of the four-segmented motor to look like the real thing. Since the real Ares' upper stage rocket engine, called the J-2X wasn't ready either, they mounted a fake upper stage. No Orion capsule was ready, so - you guessed it - they mounted a fake capsule with a real-looking but fake escape rocket that wouldn't have worked if the booster had failed. Since the guidance system for Ares wasn't ready either they went and bought a unit from the Atlas rocket program and used it instead. Oh yes, the parachutes to recover the booster were the real thing -- and one of the three failed, causing the booster to slam into the ocean too fast and banging the thing up. So, why you might ask, if the whole machine was a bit of slight-of-hand rocketry did NASA bother to spend almost half a billion dollars (that's billion with a "b") in developing and launching the Ares 1-X?

The answer: politics.

Technical problems, the kind that follow every new rocket's development, have haunted the Ares like leftovers from Halloween. The rocket as currently designed shakes so much during launch that shock absorbers are needed beneath its capsule payload. All of this takes time to fix -- and money, money that NASA really doesn't have. To stave off critics, three years ago the Project Constellation managers conceived of the 1-X flight to supposedly show some progress. They could instrument the rocket with hundreds of sensors gathering information never before obtained during a booster use in a Shuttle mission. It would give the launch team some practice in the assembly of an Ares. And NASA would find out if something as ungainly as the Ares 1 design - a thicker top than the bottom booster - could survive during ascent through the Earth's atmosphere. Of course, all of the changes to the Shuttle launch pad to accommodate the Ares wouldn't be ready in time, so they decided to just leave all of the Shuttle hardware, such as the rotating tower that envelops the Shuttles there. A success might just buy more time for Ares to fix its problems.

And that's just what happened.

Meanwhile, the huge Ares V super booster is just a series of drawings. Unlike the plan used to send Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins and me to the Moon in 1969, whereby we used just one rocket to lift all of the elements of our Apollo spaceships, the current return-to-the-Moon plan requires not one rocket but two-one launch of an Ares 1 carrying the astronauts in the Orion capsule, and an Ares V lifting a big upper stage, a sort of space tug, and the lunar landing craft called Altair. Together, the two ships dock in orbit and then the tug, called the Earth Departure Stage, fires up for the outbound trip to the Moon. Two rockets in development; two launching systems. And two price tags. Two ways for failure to occur. Or delays to develop.

Worse yet, neither rocket alone can accomplish a deep space mission. And deep space, such as Mars is, as our friends in the recent Augustine report stated, our destination in space. These rockets were originally supposed to all be derivatives of the Space Shuttle-using four segment boosters and Shuttle engines - but the designs were changed to save money and development time. Neither of which has proven to be the case today. Our Augustine panel colleagues stated flatly that some new heavy lift rocket would be needed no matter which direction President Barack Obama chose for the space program. But Ares 1 is too small, barely able to lift the crew space capsule. And Ares V is too weak to boost all of the elements together.

What do we need? One rocket for all our deep space missions. Save the taxpayer's money by canceling the Ares 1 and V. And go "back to the future" in designing the big beast. So how do we get to the space station without Ares 1? Let the commercial space firms develop their own crew launchers, and crew vehicles. Why should Uncle Sam be in the people hauling business?

Here's my plan -- and yes, I am a rocket scientist -- cancel Ares 1 now and the version of the Orion capsule that is supposed to fly astronauts back and forth to the International Space Station. Instead, unleash the commercial sector by paying them for transportation services to the station. Could be capsules. Could be winged ships like the Space Shuttle, capable of flying back to a runway with its crews and cargoes, not splashing in the ocean like a cannonball. With the money saved, start developing a true heavy lifter worthy of the Saturn V's successor. Could be a side-mount rocket like the Shuttles, with a tank-and-booster set flanked by a payload pod jammed full of cargo-or a space capsule with astronauts in tow. Or new upper stages capable of deep space missions. Let's open 'er up to a true competition, with designs from inside -- and outside -- NASA. If we bypass a foolish Moon race and let the development of the Moon be an international affair, we will have time to refine the super booster to make sure it is compatible with our deep space goals, like missions flying by comets or asteroids -- or to the moons of Mars. Such a rocket would be ready when the time comes to colonize Mars. No more false starts and dead end rockets.

Maybe use innovative elements like new upper stage engines, or entirely new propulsion systems. Or designs truly evolved from the Shuttle era. The idea is to get the best thinking from rocketeers before we start spending Uncle Sam's space bucks.

I confess I have a design in mind that I and my team have worked on for years. It's called Aquila, and it is a true offspring of the Space Shuttle. It makes maximum use of the existing Shuttle infrastructure -- unlike the real Ares -- and Shuttle boosters, engines and the side-mounted design where today the winged orbiter rides into space. If we need bigger rocket engines, Boeing's RS-68 behemoth is always available, flight proven and flight tested aboard the Delta IV commercial launchers. You see, heavy lifting doesn't need to be heavy spending, if we do the job right.

But let the designers take the field-and may the best booster win. To paraphrase David Letterman, we don't need any stupid rocket tricks. Just good sound engineering. For without good new rockets to carry our payloads and crews, nobody is ever going to follow in Neil, Mike and my footsteps into deep space. And that's where we are destined to go.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/buzz-aldrin/why-we-need-better-rocket_b_351335.html'>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/buzz-aldrin/why-we-need-better-rocket_b_351335.html

Buzz Aldrin was born in Montclair, New Jersey on January 20, 1930. His mother, Marion Moon, was the daughter of an Army Chaplain. His father, Edwin Eugene Aldrin, was a Colonel in the Air Force, a ScD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and an aviation pioneer. Buzz was educated at the US Military Academy at West Point, graduating third in his class with a BS in mechanical engineering. He then joined the Air Force where he flew F86 Sabre Jets in 66 combat missions in Korea, shot down two MIG-15's, and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross. After a tour of duty in Germany flying F100's, he went on to earn his Doctorate of Science in Astronautics at MIT and wrote his thesis on Manned Orbital Rendezvous.

Selected by NASA in 1963 into the third group of astronauts, Aldrin was the first with a doctorate and became known as "Dr. Rendezvous." The docking and rendezvous techniques he devised for spacecraft in Earth and lunar orbit became critical to the success of the Gemini and Apollo programs, and are still used today. He also pioneered underwater training techniques, as a substitute for zero gravity flights, to simulate spacewalking. In 1966 on the Gemini 12 orbital mission, Buzz performed the world's first successful spacewalk, overcoming prior difficulties experienced by Americans and Russians during extra-vehicular activity (EVA), and setting a new EVA record of 5 ½ hours. On July 20, 1969, Buzz and Neil Armstrong made their historic Apollo 11 moonwalk, becoming the first two humans to set foot on another world. They spent 21 hours on the lunar surface and returned with 46 pounds of moon rocks. An estimated 600 million people - the world's largest television audience in history - witnessed this unprecedented heroic endeavor.

Upon returning from the moon, Buzz was decorated with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest American peacetime award. A 45-day international goodwill tour followed, where he received numerous distinguished awards and medals from 23 other countries. Named after Buzz are Asteroid "6470 Aldrin" and the "Aldrin Crater" on the moon. Buzz and his Apollo 11 crew have four "stars" on each corner of Hollywood and Vine streets on the renowned Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Since retiring from NASA and the Air Force, Col. Aldrin has remained at the forefront of efforts to ensure America's continued leadership in human space exploration. He devised a master plan for missions to Mars known as the "Aldrin Mars Cycler" - a spacecraft system with perpetual cycling orbits between Earth and Mars. Dr. Aldrin has received three US patents for his schematics of a modular space station, Starbooster reusable rockets, and multi-crew modules for space flight. He founded Starcraft Boosters, Inc., a rocket design company, and the ShareSpace Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to advancing space education, exploration and affordable space flight experiences for all. Buzz also promotes his Rocket Hero brand launched in 2008 through his newest entity, StarBuzz LLC.

Dr. Aldrin has penned his dramatic memoirs in a new autobiography due out in 2009. He continues to inspire today's youth with his illustrated children's books: Reaching for the Moon, a New York Times best-seller, and his latest, Look to the Stars, a 2009 release. He has also authored two space science-fact-fiction novels: The Return and Encounter with Tiber. His non-fiction works include the best-seller historical documentary, Men from Earth, and an early 1970's autobiography, Return to Earth.

On Valentine's Day 1988, Buzz married Lois Driggs of Phoenix, Arizona. She is a Stanford University graduate, an active community leader in Southern California and Co-Chairman of StarBuzz Enterprises. Their combined family includes six adult children from previous marriages and one grandson. Sharing a similar passion for adventure, their worldwide business travels include leisure time ocean scuba diving and winter mountain skiing.

As one of the leading space exploration advocates, Buzz continues to chart a course for future space travel from Planet Earth to the moon and on to the stars.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/buzz-aldrin

[MsGuy]

This is a bit off topic but, when you were a kid, did you ever want to buy one of those rocket motors on offer on the back page of comic books? Assemble/build your own rocket and fire it off in the back yard? I craved one as a kid but the parental units seemed convinced that I would blow up something important. To this day I suspect that they were just too cheap to spring for the cost.

[lookin]

Wikipedia - "The Jetex engine was a type of solid-fuel rocket engine produced for use as a powerplant for model aircraft . . . The most popular motor, the Jetex 50, was introduced in May 1949, along with kits for a model plane and model car using Jetex power. . . Jetex engines were powered by a solid pellet of guanidine nitrate, which burnt to release a variety of gases in copious volume, leaving no solid residue or ash. Thrust developed was fairly modest, suitable for horizontally launched flying models rather than vertically launched rockets. The exhaust gas was not excessively hot, which conferred a safety advantage."

Try telling that to an overly protective mother! I lusted after anything that would get me in the air, however symbolically; but, alas, had to wait another few years until junior high gym class. Haven’t touched the ground since.

Sorry, AdamSmith for highjacking this worthy thread, but MsGuy offered some childhood memories that were too good to pass up. I’ve never fully got my head around space exploration, as it seems, and probably is, limitless. I don’t know how to fit it within all the other priorities we have as a species. But I did see an interesting program the other night that showed a big thingummy on the moon that generated power and beamed pure energy back to a receiving station on earth. I seem to recall it was a lunar nuclear power plant, but it may have been solar. The idea was that it would soon be feasible and economical to do something like that. Now that would bring space right into our living rooms.

It also makes one think of a greater role for the private sector in exploring space and, inevitably, exploiting space. I can see it now:

BlackHole Industries: “We pollute the universe so you don’t have to!”

[AdamSmith]

This is a bit off topic but, when you were a kid, did you ever want to buy one of those rocket motors on offer on the back page of comic books?

Likewise, I lusted for one of these. And likewise, the maternal unit wouldn't hear of it.

Luckily I met a friend in 8th grade who spent his Saturdays assembling and launching rockets. And occasionally dodging them.

I never got a rocket of my own. But I did discover that the little powder-coated electric igniter wires used to light the engines could also -- with proper hiding of the current-carrying wires and other preparation of the scene -- be used to remotely set off strings of firecrackers, startling passers-by.

I think that was my favorite practical joke of all time. With the exception of the plate-lifter:

http://www.etrickshop.com/Jokes_and_Pranks-PLATE_LIFTER_Joke_Prank_Gag_Gift.html

[AdamSmith]

Sorry, AdamSmith for highjacking this worthy thread, but MsGuy offered some childhood memories that were too good to pass up.

Please! I cop to highjacking most threads that I touch. Anyway, I enjoy highjacks of my threads as, usually, a sign that somebody had a more interesting thought than the original post.

I’ve never fully got my head around space exploration, as it seems, and probably is, limitless. I don’t know how to fit it within all the other priorities we have as a species.

Well, there are the possible pragmatic benefits, such as the lunar-based power generation idea you mentioned. There also seems to be the longer-range but, I think, valid argument that colonizing other worlds strengthens the species' likelihood of survival. (Assuming one views that as a good.)

And I strongly believe in the value of space as the imaginative frontier. Magellan didn't feel compelled to stay home because of all the problems still to be solved there. Some of the most moving days I can remember were such as the first moon landing. And, before that, listening to the Apollo 8 astronauts read Genesis from lunar orbit.

BlackHole Industries: “We pollute the universe so you don’t have to!”

[Guest StuCotts]

Wikipedia - Jetex engines were powered by a solid pellet of guanidine nitrate

Sidelight: guanidine = derived from guanine, found in guano.

That triggered my thought that apparently the only villainy NASA did not visit on the Ares 1-X was fueling the rocket with bird shit.

I hope Buzz Aldrin is good at being thankful for small blessings.

[lookin]

I'm still amazed by the number of harmful substances my generation survived growing up. I loved the taste of leaded paint as evidenced by the boyish teethmarks in my bedroom window sill. I looked forward to going with my father and smelling the fumes as he filled the tank with leaded gas. A favorite plaything was the shiny silver mercury my sisters brought home from high school science class. And we boys couldn't wait for the first tick spraying truck of summer so we could ride our bikes behind it and disappear in the thick cloud of DDT. Bat shit? You betcha. Bird shit? Bring it on!

[RA1]

Stu and Lookin-

You both gave me a belly laugh this morning. Sorry I have not read this previously. Thanks.

AS-

It would indeed be most interesting to turn some aspects of space exploration into a commercial competition. Enough of $500 hammers and NIBY thinking. Do you know what the Branson/Rutan Space Ship One used to control the pressurization? They pumped enough air under pressure into the cabin to sustain the pilot and then used a cork inserted into a hole in the wall to keep the pressure under control. Not everything can be "fixed" that simply and I always admire an elegant solution.

Best regards,

RA1