HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) -
NASA unveiled a beefed-up redesign of a proposed moon rocket Wednesday, saying
the Ares V spacecraft that is to carry astronauts to the lunar surface in 12
years will be around 38 stories tall and carry a heftier load than originally
planned.
The
rocket is to be about 20 feet longer than a previous design and have six
main engines at its base, instead of five. Engineers said they also decided to
enlarge the twin solid-rocket boosters that will be bolted to its side so it
can hold more fuel and carry more supplies and equipment than first envisioned.
Steve Cook, manager of the
Ares project office at the Marshall Space Flight Center, said the new design
would make Ares V capable of carrying about 15,600 pounds more than the
original concept.
The Ares V was first
planned to be 361 feet long, or about the size of the original
Saturn V moon rocket. But Cook said the redesigned Ares V will be 381 feet
long — or roughly as tall as a 38-story building.
Part of the Constellation
program, the rocket will be capable of carrying four astronauts, a lunar
lander and other equipment to a landing anywhere on the moon. In all, NASA said
it expects Ares V would be able to send more than 156,600 pounds of cargo to
the moon and, someday, Mars.
"We've looked at over
1,700 different Ares concepts," Cook told reporters at a briefing.
He added that officials
balanced cost, safety, reliability and performance factors in creating the new
design.
The changes were announced
after a nine-month study to determine if NASA could meet its goal of returning
to the moon. In a statement, Constellation program manager Jeff Hanley said the
review showed astronauts can be back on the moon by 2020.
"This extensive review
proves we are ready for the next phase: taking these concepts and moving
forward," he said.
Cook said major work on
Ares V would begin in 2010 after the space shuttle is retired.
Unlike the Apollo program,
in which the mammoth Saturn V rocket lifted astronauts and all their equipment
into orbit at once, the Constellation program plans a two-step process for
getting aloft.
Astronauts will ride into
orbit in a capsule aboard a reusable rocket called Ares I. Once there, they
will dock with an orbiting Earth departure stage that was carried by an Ares V
rocket and head to the moon with a lunar lander, cargo and supplies.
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