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Ares V and Future Very Large Launch Vehicles to Enable Major Astronomical Missions

Author
Lester, Daniel F.
Published
[2008].
Physical Description
1 electronic document
Additional Creators
Corell, Randy, Langhoff, Stephanie R., Thronson, Harley A., and Stahl, H. Philip
Online Version

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Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available.
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Summary
The current NASA architecture intended to return humans to the lunar surface includes the Ares V cargo launch vehicle, which is planned to be available within a decade. The capabilities designed for Ares V would permit an 8.8-m diameter, 55 mT payload to be carried to Sun-Earth L1,2 locations. That is, this vehicle could launch very large optical systems to achieve major scientific goals that would otherwise be very difficult. For example, an 8-m monolith UV/visual/IR telescope appears able to be launched to a Sun-Earth L2 location. Even larger apertures that are deployed or assembled seem possible. Alternatively, multiple elements of a spatial array or two or three astronomical observatories might be launched simultaneously. Over the years, scientists and engineers have been evaluating concepts for astronomical observatories that use future large launch vehicles. In this presentation, we report on results of a recent workshop held at NASA Ames Research Center that have improved understanding of the science goals that can be achieved using Ares V. While such a vehicle uniquely enables few of the observatory concepts considered at the workshop, most have a baseline mission that can be flown on existing or near-future vehicles. However, the performance of the Ares V permits design concepts (e.g., large monolithic mirrors) that reduce complexity and risk.
Other Subject(s)
Collection
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Collection.
Note
Document ID: 20080038679.
IAC-08-A5.3.6.
59th International Astronautical Congress; 29 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2008; Glasgow, Scotland; United Kingdom.
Terms of Use and Reproduction
Copyright, Distribution as joint owner in the copyright.
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