Introduction:
It is also known for its distinct place in the movies. In case, if there is a scene related to a rocket launch, it's probably going to be the space shuttle.
It was the only American spacecraft that could fly astronauts to the ISS and the low earth orbit from the late 80s to early 2000s .
It was July 2001, the Bush administration came into power. The space shuttle was about to celebrate its second decade birthday contemporary to the presidential election. NASA had no other options to send astronauts to ISS and low earth orbit except the space shuttle.
As the shuttle was getting old and was to retire in the near future, the Bush administration came up with the highly ambitious plan - The Constellation Program.
Although the program was cancelled in 2010 during the Obama administration, its legacy still remains in the hearts of people of that time. So, in this article I would like to explain about the Constellation program and what happened to it.
What happened to the space shuttle?
The Soyuz spacecraft and the space shuttle were the only way to send humans to the ISS. Although holding a record of 133 successful flights out of 135, the space shuttle turns out to be completely opposite to what NASA intended it to be. There were several reason why space shuttle was abandoned:
NASA is named for their mind boggling budget. so, after the Apollo mission NASA thought it was finally time to do something that is cost efficient.
After nearly a decade of development, they came up with this. But it turns out to be pretty expensive than what NASA thought. The average cost of launching the space shuttle was a whopping $450 million.
It was meant to launch satellites, carry crew and cargo. But the traditional rockets were way cheaper than this.
Because of its cost, most of the customers who wanted to launch their satellites opted for the conventional rockets.
The next problem was the turnaround time. So, the turnaround time is the time taken for a reusable to get ready for its next launch. The fastest turnaround time for a space shuttle was 54 days. But after the Columbia space shuttle disaster, the fastest turnaround time was 88 days.
The Challenger and the Columbia disaster deepend the fact that the space shuttle was still an experiment with a fancy concept and high cost.
The high cost, low turnaround and life hazards, lead to the space shuttle getting abandoned.
This made American astronauts dependent upon Soyuz spacecraft, as that was the only option left. So the Bush administration came up with the Constellation program.
The constellation program:
The main fundamental of the program was to replace the space shuttle and to get independent from russian rockets. The program’s goal was to transport astronauts and cargo to low earth orbit, send humans to asteroids, to the moon and ultimately to the Mars.
What Spacecrafts and Booster vehicles were designed?
Spacecrafts:
Orion:
This is going to be the crew compartment of the constellation program. This is radical from the space shuttle but is similar to the Apollo crew module. With the conical shape it looks like an updated version of the Apollo crew module.
The Orion spacecraft comprises 3 main parts. And these parts are similar to Apollo spacecraft. Let's look what they are
Command module(CM):
This is where the astronauts rest during their travels. This looks identical to the Apollo command module due to its conical shape. But, unlike the Apollo command module, this will be able to carry 4-6 astronauts.
This will be the only part of the orion spacecraft that will perform the reentry from space. To protect itself from the friction of the atmosphere during reentry, its base is covered with a heat shield.
Service module(SM):
This looks cylindrical in shape and stores all the necessary propulsion system and primary consumables. This will be always connected to the CM all along its journey but will be jettisoned before reentry, as it will no longer be useful at that point of time.
Launch abort system(LAS):
This looks like a small rocket system above the CM and is a safety system for the astronauts. If something goes wrong with the rocket or the engine, it will eject itself along with the CM protecting the crew. But after the rocket first stage it will be jettisoned as it will no longer be needed.
The most astounding fact about the Orion spacecraft is, it can be used for 10 flights in normal use cases. The Orion spacecraft will not just be used for travelling to the moon, but this will be the spacecraft for all crewed missions to anywhere.
Altair:
Altair is the landing module which consists of 2 parts like the Apollo lunar lander. It was mainly designed to transport astronauts to the moon. This is also considerably larger than its predecessor-Apollo lunar module. Altair was five times larger than its predecessor. The main 2 parts of altair are:
Ascent stage:
This part of the lander houses up to 4 astronauts. Once the altair makes it to the lunar surface only this part of the spacecraft will get back to the orbit leaving the descent stage abandoned.
Descent stage:
This contains the landing gear, most of the crew sustainable machines including oxygen and water and some scientific equipment. Once reaching the surface it will be no longer needed, hence it will not be taken back to the orbit.
Booster vehicles:
Ares-I and Ares-V:
Ares-I:
This rocket will carry the Orion spacecraft to low earth orbit and is the replacement for the space shuttle. It looks like a lean worm and a bulged worm stacked on each other. But it still has a slightly higher payload than the space shuttle.
This rocket was developed to a stage, where the prototype was even launched and the Orion aborting system was tested before its cancellation.
Ares-V:
This is the cargo rocket that could launch payload up to 188 metric tons to low earth orbit. This is much higher than Saturn-V’s payload and is also more powerful than it. It is from this rocket, the altair will be launched to orbit.
Unfortunately, this remains the most powerful rocket only in the paper, as the program was cancelled even before its development.
Earth descent stage:
Once Ares-V takes Atlair to low earth orbit, this propulsion system will put it on the lunar trajectory, paving the path to the moon.
Although the aforementioned spacecrafts and boosters do not exactly resemble the space shuttle, it still inspires the space shuttle and the Apollo mission in many ways. The design of the Orion spacecraft, the engines used in these boosters and few other things still shows the essence of the two most pre owned works by NASA.
Goals and Missions:
As we have seen about the vehicles that are involved in the mission, let’s take a deeper dive in the mission itself.
Low earth orbit and ISS:
Sending astronauts to low earth orbit is a prominent goal, because of the space shuttle retirement and the dearth of other options except the Russian soyuz. The Orion spacecraft housing 4 crew will be launched via the Ares-I rocket to low earth orbit and the ISS.
To the moon:
In the Apollo mission the command and service module and the lunar module were launched in the same rocket. But in the constellation program the landing module- Altair will be launched in the Ares-V rocket, and the Orion spacecraft will be launched in the Ares-I rocket simultaneously. Once attaining the perfect altitude the Orion spacecraft will dock with the Altair lander.
During docking the Atlair would still be connected with the EDS. And after docking, the EDS will fire in the translunar trajectory for 390 seconds and will be later jettisoned.
After a 3 day trip in space, the crew will finally reach lunar orbit. All the crew will then move to the altair lander to land on the lunar surface, while the Orion will still be revolving around the moon on its own.
Like the Apollo mission, to get back to the Orion from the surface, the crew will get back to the ascent vehicle leaving the descent vehicle alone on the moon. Once they dock to the Orion, the ascent vehicle will also be jettisoned from the craft.
Later they will be taken back to the earth after a 3-4 day trip.
To the asteroids:
The Orion asteroid mission was proposed by NASA to send humans to near earth asteroids. Unfortunately, much of the information was not published because of the cancellation of the constellation mission. But the process of sending astronauts is similar to that of the lunar mission. Ares-I and Ares-V would be launched the similar way and all the aforementioned processes would take place.
Instead of landing on the Moon this will land on an asteroid. This is the only difference between those 2 missions. This mission would have helped us reach the extravagant minerals and resources that are lurking around us. This might have also represented our next step towards Mars, and would have made a record of the first human asteroid landing.
The ultimate goal -To the mars:
The ultimate goal of the constellation program is to send humans to mars. This will be a successor to the Apollo mission feat, making America even more powerful in the space race. The same vehicles will be used in this mission. But instead of just 2 launches, several launches will take place. Due to the cancellation, the plan still remains vague.
As far as we know two Ares-V will be launched to low earth orbit, one will have the Mars Descent Vehicle(MAV) and the other will have the habitat equipment for the crew to survive. They will then be sent to the red planet. 26 months later the crew will also be launched in the Ares-I rocket. After 500 days on Mars the crew will be return back to earth.
Major huddles:
Due to the extremely high budget the Obama administration excluded the constellation program from the 2011 budget. Many people were infuriated by his decision. He also said that NASA was out of budget, lack of innovation and behind schedule.
But the development of the Orion capsule continued, as a spacecraft was required to send astronauts to the ISS, and 2015 was set as the deadline for the development of the Super Heavy Launch Vehicle(SLS).
The Artemis program and commercial crewed missions:
Although NASA continued to develop the Orion spacecraft, in order to cut down costs, it contracted private space agencies to develop spacecraft and booster vehicles, to send humans to low earth orbit and to the ISS. This is the commercial crew development program.
This program has used the SpaceX crew dragon spacecraft to bring people to and from the ISS. Apart from spaceX, Boeing is also developing starliner spacecraft for the same purpose. As the constellation program was abandoned, NASA is now working on the Artemis program.
So what do you think about the constellation program? Do you think they should have not cancelled this ambitious program??
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