NASA beefs up next-generation moon rocket by Radka Konkolova

The Earth inhabitants, especially scientists are very curious people. They have already been in the universe, but they are still trying to get more information about the space that surrounds our home planet. So they do various researches and think about the best possibilities how to detect more. Besides sending rocket and satellites aloft, for some of them it is not enough and they want to be a part of this amazing performance. So they are willing to spend some time without their families and friends above our heads somewhere far from our planet on the place from where they are not seen.

Everybody knows, that people have already had their “envoys” on the Moon, but now they want to send back another people. NASA has been preparing this project for some time and now it is sure how the spacecraft will look like. The names of these vehicles, that will be send to the Moon and back and later maybe also to Mars and back, is Ares I and Ares V. Ares I will carry astronauts to the Moon's surface and Ares V is constructed to carry supplies and other cargo. The numbers in names of these vehicles are devoted to the honour of the first space shuttles Saturn I – V used in the first Moon mission named Apollo.

This is something like new generation of space shuttles. But the original concept of this huge vehicle was a bit different. Ares is capable to carry four members cosmic crew, lunar lander and equipment and because it main task is to carry cargo, the capacity and size of it spreads. This one will be about 20 feet, what is about six meters, longer than it originally should be, so it will measure 381 feet, so it will reach approximately the same hight as the highness of 38 floor building. It is expected that it will be able to carry approximately 156,600 pounds (about 70 500 kg) of cargo to the Moon and once maybe also to Mars. Suppose, every such vehicle is powered by liquid oxygen and hydrogen. Ares V will be created with six such engines instead of five and these will be larger what means also bigger efficiency.

Astronauts should reach the Moon's orbit aboard the reusable Ares I probably in 2020 and other equipment and things important and needed to research will be carried in Ares V.

Choosing the design of this vehicle wasn't easy because they have been choosing from about 1700 various projects and it took about nine-month study while NASA decided to approve the project. Supposedly the major work of Ares V should begin in 2010, after the space shuttle is retired.

This mission will be more sophisticated than the Apollo project was and this probably will mean a huge success for NASA, astronauts and researchers as well.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080625/ap_on_sc/sci_nasa_moon_rocket;_ylt=Ao0dXOC3ox9AuHEUQOfA8ces0NUE

by Radka Konkolova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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edited by Beata Biskova