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JOSH: In this building, the
future of space flight is

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coming together...literally. We
go behind closed doors to

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see the assembly of Ares 1-X.
Next on Real World.

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? [music] ?

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JOSH: NASA is going old school
with its next space vehicle...

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a design that looks similar to
the rocket shaped Apollo
spacecraft

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rather than the plane-like
Space Shuttle. But make no
mistake;

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this new rocket ship will be
packed with the latest NASA
technology.

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Part of a whole series of space
vehicles

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called Constellation, a
prototype called Ares 1-X

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will test this back to basics
design.

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Modules for the Ares 1-X
prototype have been

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created at NASA facilities
nationwide.

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They have all come together at
Kennedy Space Center in
Florida,

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where NASA is assembling the
Ares 1-X space vehicle

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now and plans to launch a
flight in 2009.

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JON COWART: We’ve got parts
coming from Glenn Research
Center up in Cleveland,

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Langley up near Hampton,
Virginia.

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Folks at Marshall are doing the
avionics and roll control
system.

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JOSH: Jon Cowart is an Ares 1-X
Deputy Mission Manager at
Kennedy Space Center.

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JON: So by spreading out that
expertise and making sure

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everyone’s fully engaged,
you get a better product.”

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JOSH: Math plays a central role
in making sure all the

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pieces will fit and work
together properly.

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With sections created in
different facilities all over
the country,

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one miscalculation could delay
the project for months, even
years!

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Engineers use TOLERANCES
to insure that all the parts
will fit together properly.

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A tolerance is defined as the
acceptable deviation from a
dimension of an object.

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NASA engineers measure
tolerances in micrometers.

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One micrometer equals one
thousandth of a millimeter.

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To get an idea of how small
that is, a strand of human hair

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is about 100 micrometers wide!

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NASA needs these super tight
tolerances to insure

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the safety of astronauts
and their equipment in space.

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So all of the parts of Ares 1-X
have been built with proper
tolerances,

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and are being assemble at
Kennedy Space Center.

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Some parts are small enough to
be flown in by plane,

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but others will have to be
transported by truck.

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Large, ring-like parts of the
space craft, called SEGMENTS,

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are the most challenging to
move.

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JON: We’ll have all the pieces
here that we need...roll
control system, avionics.

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It’s all here. We begin that
final integration, that final
push to put it all together

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and check it all out as one
piece. And that’s the part that
takes the longest.

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JOSH: When fully assembled,
Ares 1-X will be ready for its
very first flight test.

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JON: We don’t call ourselves a
test-flight, we’re a flight
test.

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That meaning, we’re not exactly
like an Ares 1

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rocket, there’s a little bit of
difference.

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Most notably, we don’t have 5
full solid rocket motor
segments. We only got 4.

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And our upper stage has no
propellant in it...no liquid
hydrogen no liquid oxygen.

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JOSH: But lots of other things
about the Ares I-X

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are designed to be just like
the Ares I rocket that will
take astronauts into space.

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JON: We do have the mass in
there to simulate the total
weight that would be.

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So we put all this together as
a simulator and then we fly it.

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We get the aerodynamic effect,
which is what we’re really
looking for.

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We want to know aerodynamically
and control wise, can we
control this.

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The algorithms will be very,
very similar between our rocket
and the real Ares 1;

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the pressure, the strains, the
temperatures...

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Gather all that data and give
it to the folks at Ares 1

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for there critical design
review so they can use it.

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JOSH: How well Ares 1-X will
soar through the atmosphere on
lift off

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will depend in part on
aerodynamics...

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how efficiently the air around
the vehicle can be controlled.

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A central formula to
aerodynamics is called the drag
coefficient.

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Drag is the resistance an
object experiences as it moves
through air or water.

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In a controlled area, like a
wind tunnel,

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we can monitor velocity,
density and area.

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Knowing these variables, we can
measure the amount of

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drag on an object
as it moves through the air.

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The drag measurement is used to
find the drag coefficient,

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a ratio that predicts how
easily the object will move
through the air

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under different conditions.

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To find the drag coefficient,
divide the drag - D,

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by the air density (r), times
the area,

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times half the velocity,
squared.

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Since drag is directly related
to the size of an object,

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if you double the area of an
object, you double the drag on
that object.

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Scientists and engineers use
the drag coefficient

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to predict how a vehicle will
perform at different
velocities,

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air densities, or altitudes.

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The better engineers can
control the airflow around Ares
1-X,

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the easier it will be to
control the spacecraft, after
launch.

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With all of the engineering and
math behind the Ares 1-X,

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NASA is one step closer to a
new space vehicle that will

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carry us to the moon and
beyond!

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? [music] ?