TIME Best Invention of 2009 - Ares I: I was not even looking at a space blog or online space news service when I caught this reference to TIME. My first reaction was to laugh. Not because I thought the TIME's pick was poor, but because I knew the critics' reaction to the story would be a cacaphony of anger, bemusement, and ridicule. I was not disappointed.
If you did not get to see the flight test of the Ares I-X here is a video of the launch which occured October 28 of this year:
First, before reading some of the blogs from the links provided below one should know that the Ares I-X was a prototype test flight conducted to assess and analyze the basic flight dynamics and parachute recovery system of the new launch vehicle. Some of the components like the 5th segment of the booster and the 2nd stage of the rockets were mockups or dummies. The production and operational Ares I will consist of a 5-segment solid rocket 1st stage and a 2nd stage featuring Orion crew spacecraft boosted by J-2X engines. Both the 1st stage and J-2X engines will also be part of the Ares V cargo launcher design. This system is what called an integrated launch system. The Ares I will be a human rated launcher with a high degree of ascent safety, about 2X safer than the space shuttle, and the Ares V will not be human rated, meaning that the cargo lifter will not need to carry the same kind of redundant systems or an expensive launch/abort module.
Also, the test flight was planned for several years and was actually scheduled for last year. So claims that this was a political stunt to defend the Constellation program in light of the Human Spaceflight Review Final Report rings hollow.
Here are some of the blogs which discuss the TIME article, be warned that the majority of commenters here are very critical of Ares I and Constellation program in general:
Time Magazine's Best Invention of the Year NASA Watch
TIME's Best Invention of 2009: NASA's Ares I collectSPACE
TIME's Best Invention of 2009: NASA's Ares I NASAspaceflight.com
Cheers! TGIF!