1. Ares I System Requirements Review (SRR)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Ares I System Requirements Review (SRR)
Operational Concepts Overview
Ares Project
Joel Best / EO10
November 6, 2006

2. Lunar Sortie Crew DRM
Here’s the lunar sortie crew DRM. The Ares I job is completed at Orion CEV separation.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

3. MSFC Ares I Ops Con Flow
Ops Concept starts with element assembly and goes through first stage recovery & refurbishment.
We start with what makes up a complete stage and What integration and test activities are performed prior to shipment to the launch site.
For ascent flight operations, the functionality contained in the ops con was for the Ares flight trajectory folks to use to build the detailed ascent trajectory and the design analysis folks to start building the Integrated Mission Timeline.
It looks Business As Usual (BAU).
It’s based on Shuttle but streamlined:
Elements are delivered to the launch site ready to begin planned vehicle assembly and integration activities.
Challenging processing times.
No engine work at KSC.
Some significant operations efficiencies will be realized just because of the simplified design of the vehicle:
No reusable engine – it’s an expendable engine.
No wings or landing gear.
No sensitive, reusable TPS.
In-line stack instead of side-mount configuration
First Stage Recovery & Refurbishment is open work and covered more later.
Note: This version of the Ops Con is based on the DAC-1A configuration and modular RCS was the DAC-1A configuration (the going-in design for DAC-2 is integrated RCS). We will update this document via CR periodically all the way through PDR and CDR, so don’t write me a RID on this!

4. Step One Land to Land
Large machines called crawlers move the vehicle to the launch pad.
The crawlers “are 131 feet long and 113 feet wide, with a flat upper deck measuring 90 feet square -- about the size of a baseball diamond -- that serves as the carrying surface. They move on four double-tracked tread belts, similar to those on a military tank. Each contains 57 "shoes" weighing more than a ton apiece.” The crawler’s surface is kept level at all times by using 16 jacking, equalizing and leveling hydraulic cylinders.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

5. Step Two Land to Air
Once in place, the vehicle is ready for launch. Upon lift off the vehicle is lifted out of the earth’s atmosphere and into earth’s orbit.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

6. Step Three Air to Space (earth’s orbit)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

7. Step Four Space (earth’s orbit) to Space (lunar orbit)
Once in earth’s orbit, the Ares I and Ares V will rendezvous and will perform a translunar injection burn which will push the vehicle into moon’s orbit.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

8. Step Five Space (lunar orbit) to Land (lunar surface)
Once in moon’s orbit, the crew will travel to the moon’s surface using the lunar lander vehicle.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

9. Step Six Land (lunar surface) to Space (lunar orbit)
The lunar lander will then propel the crew back to the moon’s orbit to dock with the crew capsule.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

10. The Orion capsule will return to earth’s orbit and land back on earth.
Step Seven Space to Air
The Orion capsule will return to earth’s orbit and land back on earth.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

11. Step Eight Air to Land/Water (recovery)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration