What engineering problems was Ares I facing at the time of its cancellation?

Question

As we all know, Ares I was to be the Crewed Exploration Vehicle (CEV) launcher of the Constellation program. It was based on a 5 segment SRB design, with a J-2X engine as an upper stage.

Ares I

It was to be complemented by the larger Ares V, which would be the cargo hauler of the program. Before the program was cancelled in 2010, it underwent a single flight test, called Ares I-X, but there was criticism that it was for "show only" due to the fact that it featured an inert upper stage, and a 4 segment SRB.

I have only ever seen references to them rather than detailed documents, but I have heard that during the Ares I program, the vehicle had vibration issues, launch abort scenarios did not look survivable, and that the vehicle and capsule had mass problems; and that overall the system was over budget and could face delays.

Is there any truth to these claims? Would someone be able to give a brief bullet point analysis on the problems the vehicle was facing?

Don't forget the baseline Ares 1 was to use the SSME which had restart problems, and forced the switch to J2-X (and subsequent expensive development), and led to size & mass growth in the upper stage. — Organic Marble, Apr 05 '15 at 01:41
Re vibration, check How were vibrations supposed to be handled in an Ares I? — TildalWave, Apr 05 '15 at 08:32
This isn't a bulleted list per se, but it is a discussion thread that might yield such a list to a patient reader... [http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=21787.0] — Mike Wise, Apr 07 '15 at 03:55

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 07 '15 at 02:19

4

Beyond vibration issues, which they were trying to address with a weight to detune the vibration mode, they had an abort issue. The possible blast radius of an SRB was greater than the abort range of Orion, and most likely the parachutes would come back down through the blast and likely melt.

answered Apr 07 '15 at 02:19

geoffc

79,523
12
227
419

...so why not give the Orion a more powerful LES to compensate? – Vikki Jul 05 '19 at 02:32

What engineering problems was Ares I facing at the time of its cancellation?

1 Answers1