NASA has
discovered a large dent on its brand-new moon rocket after the booster splashed
into the Atlantic Ocean at the end of a test flight this week.
The damage
to the new Ares
I-X rocket, which launched from Florida Wednesday on a short test flight,
was spotted by a diving team sent to recover the booster's first stage. The
first stage — a giant solid rocket booster — was dented near its base.
NASA
spokesperson Amber Philman told SPACE.com that the space agency is still
awaiting word on what may have caused the damage.
Photos of
the damage show a giant dent in one of the lower segments of the Ares I-X
rocket's first stage. The first stage is essentially a four-segment solid
rocket booster like those used to launch NASA's space shuttles, except with a
dummy fifth segment on top.
Ares I-X
launched on a $445 million test flight to aid development of NASA's Ares I
rocket, the booster slated to carry astronauts to space after the shuttle fleet
is retired.
The rocket
prototype blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a brief
six-minute flight. About two minutes into
the liftoff, the first stage separated from a dummy second stage made up of
fake segments.
The dummy
upper stage crashed into the Atlantic Ocean and sank as planned. The first
stage, however, was expected to deploy three massive parachutes and splash into
the ocean much like NASA's shuttle boosters. One of the giant, 150-foot (46-meter)
parachutes reportedly deflated as the first stage fell back to Earth,
resulting in a harder-than-expected spashdown, according to a CBS News report.
The
recovery team is due to return to the Kennedy Space Center on Friday, NASA
officials said.
Space
shuttle mission managers said the damage to Ares I-X's first stage poses no
concern for the twin solid rocket boosters on the shuttle Atlantis, which was
cleared for a Nov. 16 launch on Thursday.
The Ares
I-X booster is heavier than shuttle boosters and carried other modifications and
a different parachute system, NASA's space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier
told reporters. Shuttle solid rocket boosters have only two parachutes, he
added.
"It's a
totally different system than ours," Gerstenmaier said. "There's been no tie at
all between what Ares has got and what we've got."
Shuttle officials said Ares I-X engineers will get their first up-close look at the
damaged rocket booster Friday once it arrives in Florida.
"The
booster comes back in tomorrow," said shuttle integration manager Mike Moses. "So
until that point, everything is probably speculation."
Click here for SPACE.com's full Ares I-X
mission coverage.
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