Ares V-1
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This article or section contains information regarding a future spaceflight. Due to the nature of the content, details may change dramatically as the launch date approaches and/or more information becomes available. |
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| Mission name: | Ares V-1 | ||||
| Launch pad: | Launch Pad 39A | ||||
| Launch: | June, 2018 | ||||
| Landing: | June, 2018 | ||||
| Duration: | ~1-3 days | ||||
| Orbit altitude: | ~200-250 nautical miles (~320-400 km) in LEO | ||||
| Orbit inclination: | ~28.5 degrees in LEO | ||||
| Distance traveled: | TBD | ||||
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Ares V-1 is the current designation for the maiden flight of the heavy-lift Ares V Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle. The rocket launch will be conducted to test the first stage, which uses five RS-68 rocket engines currently in use on the Delta IV EELV rocket with two five-segment Solid Rocket Boosters identical to that planned for the Ares I. The Ares V will have an active Earth Departure Stage, which has a single J-2X rocket engine, but will not carry the Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM) – a Constellation derivative of the Apollo Lander Mass Simulator (used on Apollos 4, 6, and 8) will be used instead. Ares V-1 will also see the first use of Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A, as it is currently be slated for use in the final Space Shuttle missions while Launch Pad 39B will be reconfigured for use as the Ares I launch facility.
Ares V-1 is currently scheduled to take place in June, 2018, a little over 50 years since the unmanned Apollos 4 and 6 flights. It will most likely fly a so-called "Shuttle Standard Insertion" flight profile from launch into Low Earth Orbit, allowing NASA to test the SRBs, the five RS-68 engines, and the single, restartable, J-2X engine, the last engine being very important in that it would have to both insert the EDS and LSAM into LEO, and then after an Orion spacecraft docks with the LSAM, propel the two vehicles out to the Moon. Once the initial launch sequence is done, NASA may then propel the EDS and its mass simulator into a permanent solar orbit or fire its J-2X engine and have the assembly crash into the Pacific Ocean in a manner similar to the de-orbiting of the Space Station Mir in 2001.
