A model of the Ares I-X rocket at Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39B. (Photo credit: NASA)

Glenn hardware has key role in testing new rocket
By Kevin Kelley
Westshore
Published May 14, 2008

If all goes well, a piece of space hardware manufactured at the Glenn Research Center will launch just under a year from now.

That flight from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida will be the first test flight of the rocket system that will replace the space shuttle and return astronauts to the surface of the moon.

What exactly is Glenn’s contribution to this important test flight?

Four of 11 “tuna can” segments of the upper stage mass simulator assembled at NASA Glenn. The simulator will substitute for real upper stage during the April 2009 test flight. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

The tuna can.

At least that’s what it’s affectionately called on the Glenn campus.

The hardware’s true name is the upper stage mass simulator for the Ares I-X test flight. It’s called the “tuna can” because the simulator consists of several “tuna can”-like cylinders stacked on top of one another to substitute for the actual upper stage rocket that will be used in future launches.

Ares I is the crew launch vehicle that will send astronauts into orbit. The April 2009 launch will test the stability and flight dynamics of the solid rocket booster at the base of the Ares I.

“The purpose for the flight is to test the first stage flight of this solid rocket booster, which is a shuttle solid rocket booster that we are modifying for use on the Ares-I rocket,” said Vince Bilardo, Glenn’s project manager for the Ares I-X flight.

The suborbital flight will last a little more than two minutes, Bilardo said, and reach an altitude of 150,000 feet.

Glenn was given the responsibility to design, fabricate and test the upper stage simulator and deliver it to the Kennedy Space Center.

“It’s a very key flight because it will be the very first test flight of this new vehicle launch system,” Bilardo said.

Bilardo said the test flight will verify whether the booster can get the vehicle up to the point where the booster has completed its job.

“The key objective of this first test flight is ‘Can we control this long skinny rocket?’” Bilardo explained. The stacked tuna cans will simulate the weight distribution and shape of the real upper stage, he said.

The interior view from the top of the upper stage mass simulator. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

About 300 sensors will be on board the simulator to measure vibrations, temperatures, thrust, acceleration and pressures, Bilardo said. Cameras will also be on board, he added.

Just under 200 Glenn employees worked on the upper stage simulator. $40 million was spent at Glenn on the simulator; a total of $350 million is being spent by NASA on the Ares I-X launch.

Therese Griebel, chief of Glenn’s Manufacturing Technology Division, said putting the upper stage simulator together has been challenging for her team.

The outer shell of each segment consists of two 10- by-30-foot pieces of carbon steel welded together, Griebel said. The welds had to be tested using radiographs and ultrasound, she added.

“The flanges (of each segment) have to be perfectly flat on top of each other,” Griebel said. Using lasers, workers achieved  a degree of flatness of plus or minus one-ten-thousandths of an inch along the entire diameter of the can, she added.

Each segment is 18 feet wide. When fully assembled, the upper stage simulator will consist of 11 segments measuring 120 feet in height.

The simulator will not be recovered from the ocean following the Ares I test flight. A future test flight, called Ares I-Y and scheduled for 2012, will fly with a functional upper stage.

Glenn Director Woodrow Whitlow Jr. said the center’s assignments for Project Constellation, NASA’s next generation of spacecraft for human spaceflight, ensures the center’s stability for the next 10 to 15 years.

“The health of the center looks quite good right now,” he said.

Work such as the upper stage simulator continues Glenn’s proud tradition in rocketry, Whitlow said.

“The Glenn Research Center is proud of the contributions we’ve made in the past,” Whitlow said, “We’re proud of the contributions we’re making today, and we certainly will be proud of the contributions we’ll be making when humans set foot back on the moon.”

(The Ares I-X Manufacturing Facility will be open to the public at Glenn’s open house Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.)

On the Net:

• NASA's Glenn Research Center
• Article on Glenn's involvement with the Ares I-X test flight
• NASA's Project Constellation
• NASA Glenn Open House information