NASA Next-Gen Vehicle Builds on Past
By Frank Morring, Jr.
Engineers planning NASA’s next effort to build a vehicle to replace the retiring space shuttle fleet will start with an amalgam of the shuttle and its moribund Ares I and Orion follow-ons. As before, money remains a problem.
The U.S. space agency’s “reference vehicle design” for a heavy-lift space launch system (SLS) incorporates five space shuttle main engines (SSMEs); a core stage based on the ...
