NASA's Ares I-X test rocket has been delayed today in part because of the number of lightning strikes in the area – 154 since last evening, NASA said. That's because NASA built an enormous lightning protection system at the Kennedy Space Center that will not only protect people and equipment but collects strike information for analysis by launch managers. While NASA can't control the weather, the Ares launch pad and surrounding area as well protected from lighting strikes as can be. NetworkWorld Extra:10 NASA space technologies that may never see the cosmosTop 10 cool satellite projects The structure called a catenary wire system, is the largest on the space compound and features large cables strung between three 594-foot-tall steel and fiberglass towers.
This configuration helps keep the vehicle isolated from dangerous lightning currents, NASA said. Each tower is topped with a fiberglass mast and a series of catenary wires and down conductors designed to divert lightning away from the rocket and service structure. The system will also include an array of sensors, both on the ground and the mobile launcher, will help determine the vehicle's condition after a nearby lightning strike. The system is being built around Kennedy's Launch Pad 39B, the location for NASA'a next generation of space vehicles: the Constellation Program and Ares/Orion launches. This can help prevent days of delays, NASA said on its Web site.
Pad B is the site of the first Ares vehicle launch, including Ares I-X. NASA said current Launch Pads 40 and 41 already each have lightning protection systems similar to the new version. The massive steel towers were assembled horizontally on the ground, then lifted into the vertical position by a 60-story-tall crane. The $28 million lightning protection system, received NASA's go-ahead to proceed in September 2008. The system's foundation includes 216 pilings extending up to 55 feet below ground. According to NASA, lightning dispersal systems have changed dramatically over the years. This system provides shielding to the space shuttle and diverts strike currents down to the ground, making it an isolated system and an improvement over the Apollo arrangement, NASA said. According to its Web site, The Apollo system, for example, was a bonded system. "A bonded structure is part of the launch structure," says Constellation Senior Pad Project Manager Jose Perez Morales. "Obviously, if you get a lightning strike, it doesn't matter how well you place your wires - you're going to get current going through the structure." For the space shuttle, the lightning protection system consists of a lightning mast on the top of each pad's service structure and two catenary wires.
The test flight that will happen today if the weather holds, will provide NASA an early opportunity to test and prove hardware, models, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I launch vehicle. Data collected, including from more than 700 sensors throughout the rocket, will begin to confirm the vehicle as a whole is safe and stable in flight before astronauts begin traveling into orbit, NASA stated. The flight also will allow NASA to gather critical data during ascent of the integrated stack, which includes the Ares I launch vehicle with a simulated upper stage, Orion crew exploration vehicle and launch abort system. The Ares I-X test rocket is similar in mass and size to the actual Ares I rocket and Orion spacecraft systems, but it will incorporate a mix of proven spaceflight and simulated, or mock-up, hardware, NASA stated. Mock-ups of the upper stage, Orion crew module and launch abort system will be used to simulate the integrated spacecraft, according to NASA. The flight test profile will closely follow the approximate flight conditions that will be experienced by the Ares and Orion vehicles through Mach 4.7 - more than four times the speed of sound. The flight test vehicle will be powered by a single, four-segment reusable solid rocket booster - flight hardware currently in the space shuttle inventory - modified to include a fifth, inactive segment to simulate the Ares I five-segment booster.
Approximately two minutes into flight and at about 130,000 feet, the launch vehicle's first stage will separate from the upper stage. The maximum altitude, or apogee, of the flight test will be about 150,000 feet, or 28 miles.