landofgrey - 1/1/2007 10:16 AMFrom what I heard from a source inside NASA, about a month ago a formal proposal was made for a vehicle to be called Ares IV. What he told me is that it would be essentially an Ares V topped with Orion and no lunar descent stage. I've been trying to get more information and details but haven't had much luck yet. I'm not sure how accurate the info is, he's been involved with something else inside the agency and so doesn't have direct knowledge.
What would this proposal be used for, other than a redefinition of the ESAS architecture. (1.5 to 2.0 launch?) Is it to replace the Ares 1 and Ares V combo? When you say no lunar descent stage... does that imply it would have a lunar ascent stage along with the Orion CEV? A fairly simple (no pressurized tunnel, etc) mechanical docking would then occur to mate the CEV+LSAM ascent stage to the EDS+LSAM descent stage? Sounds like they're proposing a "Direct on steroids "... but probably wouldn't save as much in cost if the Ares V is still developed.
bobthemonkey - 2/1/2007 9:09 AMflight global.comhttp://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2007/01/02/Navigation/177/211318/NASA+quietly+sets+up+budget+for+Ares+IV+lunar+crew+launch+vehicle+with+2018+test+flight.html
Chris Bergin - 2/1/2007 11:03 AMThere's some Stumpy in there also.
Kaputnik - 2/1/2007 5:28 PMThis is very interesting stuff. Lets hope NASA is preparing to drop Ares 1 in favour of this.On the negative side, I don't like the idea of an Ares-1 US derived EDS because it would lack the diameter to launch larger payloads, e.g. Mars landers.