From 2005 through early 2011, NASA conducted concept definition, design, and development of the Ares I launchvehicle. The Ares I was conceived to serve as a crew launch vehicle for beyond-low-Earth-orbit human spaceexploration missions as part of the Constellation Program Architecture. The vehicle was configured with a singleshuttle-derived solid rocket booster first stage and a new liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen upper stage, propelled by asingle, newly developed J-2X engine. The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle was to be mated to the forward end ofthe Ares I upper stage through an interface with fairings and a payload adapter. The vehicle design passed aPreliminary Design Review in August 2008, and was nearing the Critical Design Review when efforts wereconcluded as a result of the Constellation Program's cancellation. At NASA Glenn Research Center, foursubsystems were developed for the Ares I upper stage. These were thrust vector control (TVC) for the J-2X,electrical power system (EPS), purge and hazardous gas (P&HG), and development flight instrumentation (DFI).The teams working each of these subsystems achieved 80 percent or greater design completion and extensivedevelopment testing. These efforts were extremely successful representing state-of-the-art technology and hardwareadvances necessary to achieve Ares I reliability, safety, availability, and performance requirements. This paperdocuments the designs, development test activity, and results.
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