Fresh from the success of its Ares I-X development flight-test launch Oct. 28, NASA is putting renewed efforts into studies of whether or not to incorporate a real Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) J-2X engine in the upper stage of the follow-on Ares I-Y suborbital test.

Both Ares I-X and I-Y are envisioned as development test shots to evaluate and fine-tune the design of the follow-on Ares launch vehicles planned under the original Constellation system architecture. Although operating under the shadow of budgetary and national policy uncertainty, NASA continues to press ahead with test plans for the Ares I-Y, scheduled for March 2014, as well as the Orion crew vehicle.

Ares I-Y was "scoped to be another suborbital flight demonstration with a five-segment first stage and a high altitude launch abort after separation," NASA Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley said. "But we are studying putting an engine on that flight, and we continue to evaluate that to see if we could put an engine in that upper stage and start it at altitude."

PWR is currently testing the gas generator of the J-2X engine for the upper stages of the Ares I and V launch vehicles at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and remains on schedule to perform the first full-engine system test in mid 2011, having just passed the critical design review (CDR). The first engine is scheduled to be integrated into the initial upper stage around September/October 2012. PWR is scheduled to complete development in 2014 under the terms of its extended $1.2 billion contract originally awarded by NASA in 2006.

The liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen-powered J-2X builds on the experience of the Apollo-Saturn Program, and is being upgraded to provide 294,000 pounds of thrust to power the Ares vehicles compared with the 230,000 pounds of the original J-2. The J-2X incorporates significant upgrades to meet the Ares requirements and is considerably larger, measuring almost 16 feet in height.

However, Hanley warns that funding restrictions continue to hamper progress. "We are paced by the budget to buy big lead items for both Orion and Ares. That puts pressure on a program that wants to be ramping up to its peak," he says. "We originally crafted a plan that would have enabled Orion and Ares to fly in September 2013. We could have achieved that, but in the event it didnt receive the funding it needed."

Encouraged by the Ares I-X success, Hanley says NASA would be eager to accelerate tests and do more flight-testing if the funds could be found. "That would be predicated on the budget. More money sooner is good, because it gets the parts built and into the supply chain. It takes three years [from ordering parts] to getting them into a rocket. You have to get the design done, and know what you want to buy. And that's what's put us into the 2014 time frame."

The Orion crew vehicle CDR is set to begin by the end of 2010 with completion due the following February, while CDR for Ares is due to follow in late 2011. "The first copy [of Orion] is being welded together at Michoud, Louisiana, and that will go into test next year," Hanley says, adding that the recently completed preliminary design review "was a big milestone for Orion, and will move the schedule quickly to CDR."

In related events, the tooling for the start of Orion manufacturing is arriving this week at Kennedy Space Center, he adds. The "boilerplate" version of the Orion capsule built for pad abort tests is meanwhile being outfitted at White Sands, N.M., ready for testing "next spring," according to Hanley, who adds the abort motor also has been delivered for integration into the vehicle.

Ares I-X launch photo: NASA