Nasa says the Ares I-X rocket test is a key step in the next chapter of space exploration [AFP]

The US space agency Nasa is preparing for its first test launch of a new rocket it hopes will take astronauts back to the moon and beyond.

Mission controllers say all systems are in place to launch the Ares I-X rocket at 1324GMT on Tuesday from a modified shuttle launch pad at Cape Canaveral, although inclement weather had delayed the launch from 1200GMT.

The $445m rocket also faces doubts over its future and could even be scrapped following criticism from a government panel that Nasa's ambitious goals were "unsustainable" given available resources.

The prototype Ares I-X rocket, taller than the Statue of Liberty, will fly for just over two minutes and will not leave Earth's atmosphere.

Next generation

Ares I-X rocket

• Rocket is 99.6m high, 10m taller than the Statue of Liberty
• Largest rocket built since the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo space programme
• Based on solid rocket motors used to launch space shuttle
• Project is part of 'Constellation' programme to replace space shuttle, taking astronauts to space station and for exploration deeper into space
• Test flight will last 2 minutes 30 seconds and will not enter space
• Nasa hopes to begin manned flights using Ares rockets in 2015

Nasa officials hope the flight will provide valuable data on the rocket's performance, despite deep uncertainty over the space programme's future.

The 100m high rocket is a key part of Nasa's planned next generation of manned vehicles - dubbed Constellation - which the agency hopes will replace the ageing space shuttle fleet due to be retired next year.

It hopes to use an Ares rocket to launch the first astronauts into orbit in 2015, beginning a new chapter of manned space flight that it says will take humans back to the moon and onwards to a landing on Mars.

A much larger rocket, the Ares V, would be used to blast the necessary hardware into space which would then rendezvous with the manned capsule before the assembled spacecraft begins its mission.

But an independent panel of experts last week threw cold water over Nasa's ambitions in a report to the White House, warning that the agency needs $3bn a year in extra funding to meet its goals.

'Unsustainable'

In the 155 page report released on Thursday, panel leader Norman Augustine, former president of aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, said a lack of funding meant Nasa's human space flight program "appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory".

Instead the report from the 10-member-panel proposed the idea of manned space flights to asteroids, as well as flyovers close to the moon and Mars, both of which would avoid the need to factor in complicated landing arrangements.

The Ares-I-X is based on a modified version of one of the two solid-fuel rocket motors used to launch the space shuttle.

Topped by a replica of the planned upper stage of the manned spacecraft, the rocket is the largest built by Nasa since the giant Saturn V rockets used in the Apollo moon programme of the 1960s.

It is also the first launch vehicle designed by Nasa is more than 30 years, and engineers are hoping it will help the agency regain lost expertise in the field.

But the rocket project has suffered major development problems and its ballooning price tag has fuelled criticism of Nasa at a time when US government agencies are under pressure to slash costs.

The initial budget for the Constellation program, which includes the Ares rockets, was set at $28bn but has since swollen to at least $44bn.

Recommend this article...

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto:

Be first to comment this article

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Name:
E-mail
Homepage
Title:
BBCode:
Comment:
Code:*
	I wish to be contacted by email regarding additional comments

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.4