THE prospect of building a new, improved rocket from parts of the space shuttle is a step closer, thanks to a safety study.
The Ares I rocket NASA is developing to replace the space shuttle is beset by technical faults and a shortage of funds. As an alternative, space shuttle manager John Shannon recently proposed a launcher called the Heavy Lift Vehicle (HLV). To keep costs to a minimum, it would use existing hardware, including the space shuttle鈥檚 main engines, external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters, to launch an Apollo-like crew capsule into Earth orbit.
However, the design had a safety issue: rather than sitting on the nose of the rocket, the HLV鈥檚 crew capsule sits beside the fuel tank, increasing the risk of collision with the tank if the crew capsule needed to eject from the vehicle.
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Now a preliminary study by a group of NASA engineers, , appears to ease those concerns. Their calculations suggest that the emergency ejection thrusters planned for Ares I would also safely whisk the crew capsule away from the HLV, despite buffeting by shock waves from the fuel tank created when the vehicle travels at supersonic speeds.