Ares I-X is an experimental test rocket that will help NASA improve the design and safety of the next generation of American spaceflight vehicles, which could again take humans beyond low Earth orbit.
Ares I-X is an experimental test rocket that will help NASA improve the design and safety of the next generation of American spaceflight vehicles, which could again take humans beyond low Earth orbit. At 11:30 AM EDT on Oct. 28, 2009, the Ares I-X test rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The flight test lasted about six minutes from its launch until splashdown of the rocket’s booster stage nearly 150 miles downrange.
The flight test was designed to provide NASA with an enormous amount of data, prominent among which will be the speed and inclination of the rocket. NASA and Lockheed Martin, its prime contractor turned for help to Aeroprobe Corp. Aeroprobe was requested to supply a five-hole air-data probe to be mounted on the CM/LAS nosecone of the Ares I-X vehicle. This probe is expected to provide accurate air speed, pitch and yaw angles and the total and static pressure during the flight time of the Ares I-X, during which time the rocket will be in atmospheric flight. The total and static pressures that are derived from the probe are considered critical quantities, as they will be used as a reference for the remainder of the 300+ pressure sensors on the Ares I-X.
