News Space Launch System News

[Andy44]

For starters, the "public" has long ago forgotten that Ares even existed, if they even noticed in the first place. It's really only people like us that follow this stuff, at least until they are close to launching something for real and it's hyped all over the news.

As for the orange tank, yes, it's hideous, just like the STS ET was hideous. It looks like a giant rusty steel drum. It makes perfect sense, of course, and decades of STS have made people used to seeing it on rockets, so it's no big deal, but I still think it's ugly.

Too bad they can't make the foam in a swirl of pastel and surf colors...or maybe neon that glows when you shine a big blacklight at the launch pad.

 

[K_Jameson]

And one more thing, ORANGE?!?!?!?! It looked great before :facepalm: . Along with the scrapping of SLS, looks more like Ares V now anyway.

Apollo/Saturn nostalgia.
It looks better now because it's more realistic (aside the silly booster paint job). Structurally the core stage is like the Shuttle ET, that was left unpainted after the first flights. Without paint you can save weight.
The weird thing is actually the orange conical payload adapter...

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I have thought a lot about that too (more like worried). I do not believe that there is any way to save SLS and Orion from the future president's wrath?

And one more thing, ORANGE?!?!?!?! It looked great before :facepalm: . Along with the scrapping of SLS, looks more like Ares V now anyway.

Yeah...they should go with goldenrod, avocado, and burned orange for that retro 70's feel :lol:

 

[N_Molson]

The weird thing is actually the orange conical payload adapter...

A 3D render doesn't mean that the vehicle will be painted/unpainted that way. I'd bet that the 3D artist doesn't even know what a payload adapter is. He's an artist, paid to make nice 3D renders, probably from a rough schematic with some dimensions and general guidelines.

 

[ISProgram]

A 3D render doesn't mean that the vehicle will be painted/unpainted that way. I'd bet that the 3D artist doesn't even know what a payload adapter is. He's an artist, paid to make nice 3D renders, probably from a rough schematic with some dimensions and general guidelines.

I hate to be that guy, but the accompanying article mentions it will be covered in carrot foam, for whatever reason. So Word of God right there.

Critical design reviews for the individual SLS elements of the core stage, boosters and engines were completed successfully as part of this milestone. Also as part of the CDR, the program concluded the core stage of the rocket and Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter will remain orange, the natural color of the insulation that will cover those elements, instead of painted white.

Though you are still right, just perhaps not in this particular instance, 3D renders are not the best thing to go by; just look at the history of F9/FH renders from SpaceX.

 

[K_Jameson]

A 3D render doesn't mean that the vehicle will be painted/unpainted that way. I'd bet that the 3D artist doesn't even know what a payload adapter is. He's an artist, paid to make nice 3D renders, probably from a rough schematic with some dimensions and general guidelines.

The whole thing can be rather simple: there is an artist, and sitting beside him a technician that points the finger at the screen and says: "here: orange... here: white..."

Not so complicated, right?

---------- Post added at 06:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:53 PM ----------

I hate to be that guy, but the accompanying article mentions it will be covered in carrot foam, for whatever reason. So Word of God right there.

The insulation can be here to protect the ICPS's LOX tank. Maybe placing some insulation here, you can reduce the amount of insulation on the second stage and thus the dry weight (the dry weight in the final stage is more crucial than in the previous stages), gaining some pound of payload...

It's a weak theory, I know...

 

[N_Molson]

Well, the idea is more than a 3D artist has to earn money, so he is rarely a specialist and works on several parallel projects. In the same day, he renders such different things as a rocket, a dinosaur and a fashion model. Hard to be a specialist in every area, being a good generalist earns more.

The whole thing can be rather simple: there is an artist, and sitting beside him a technician that points the finger at the screen and says: "here: orange... here: white..."

Not so complicated, right?

Believe me, it doesn't works that way. At best a "technician" will send him a couple of e-mails with general guidelines. Because the "technician" is not paid to assist a 3D artist, he is paid to make rockets fly. That's certainly not the ideal way of doing things, but that how it tends to work.

Here's how things are done :

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[K_Jameson]

I only think that sometimes things are simpler than you think: OK, the artist works on general guidelines but he will have sent his work to someone for approval, right? A blatant error like this cannot escape. Maybe. So, or you're right or this is not an error...

 

[Frilock]

Frankly I like the orange tank better. Somehow makes it look a bit more kerbal.

 

[Pipcard]

Well, the Rockomax Jumbo-64 tanks in KSP were based on the orange-colored-insulation of the Shuttle (and derivatives), Delta IV, and H-IIA/B.

 

[Astro SG Wise]

I mean, I guess that orange can look ok, seeing Ares V and Shuttle for as long as we have, but for the past four years, I've gotten used to this new Saturn V rocket. I have to admit, Ares V looks good in orange, but I was ready for a different SLS.

 

[N_Molson]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/10/23/nasa-completes-sls-design-review-confirms-rocket-to-be-orange/

“Not applying the paint will reduce the vehicle mass by potentially as much as 1,000 pounds [=~ 450 kg], resulting in an increase in payload capacity, and additionally streamlines production processes,” said Shannon Ridinger, a NASA spokesperson. “This is similar to what was done for the external tank for the space shuttle. The space shuttle was originally painted white for the first two flights and later a technical study found painting to be unnecessary.”

 

[Frilock]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/10/23/nasa-completes-sls-design-review-confirms-rocket-to-be-orange/

Isn't that the same reason they stopped painting the ET white back in the 80s? So...how much did it cost them to figure it out this time? :facepalm:

 

[DaveS]

Isn't that the same reason they stopped painting the ET white back in the 80s? So...how much did it cost them to figure it out this time? :facepalm:

Much less considering they never did a follow up study in the first place. The decision to stop coating the ET was based on flight data.

 

[K_Jameson]

Frilock,
SLS was never really intended to be painted. The Saturn-like paint job was mere promotional advertising and was used to visually distinguish SLS from Ares V, meaning that this is "a new rocket". But surely the real intention was, from the beginning, to left the rocket unpainted. Now we have only the official statement.

 

[DaveS]

Much less considering they never did a follow up study in the first place. The decision to stop coating the ET was based on flight data.

Just a follow-up on this: Originally Columbia's wings did not sport the black wing chines and was going to look exactly as Challenger's wings did. But sometime during late 1979/early 1980 a thermal study found some concerns with the hydraulic lines that runs through the wings and the decision was made to coat the upper wing chines with a black thermal coating while the orbiter was in the OPF.

A later study found that this coating was completely unnecessary and no orbiter ever had the same modification. Columbia was never "de-modified" as that would have entailed alot of unnecessary TPS work.

Here's a photo of Columbia on the parking apron at the SLF after the delivery ferry-flight to KSC in March 1979. Note the white wing chines:

 

[boogabooga]

http://news.yahoo.com/nasas-sls-rocket-sheds-saturn-v-color-scheme-225159938.html

 

[K_Jameson]

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/10/nasa-sls-milestones-converge-debut-flight/

"The post-CDR design does include more foam on the top end of the rocket after an additional decision included a call for the LVSA (Launch Vehicle to Stage Adaptor) to have foam on the outside, based on the latest thermal analysis.

Given the LVSA has the core stage LOX tank below it, the ICPS LOX tank inside, and the ICPS LH2 tank above it, it is expected this area of the rocket will become cold during the final countdown and form ice on the outside."

Grossly as I said...

 

[DaveS]

Decided to post this news in here as Orion is very much related to the SLS:
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/engineers-refine-thermal-protection-system-for-orion-s-next-mission

 

[Urwumpe]

Decided to post this news in here as Orion is very much related to the SLS:
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/engineers-refine-thermal-protection-system-for-orion-s-next-mission

Not sure if it is really related, since it "might" theoretically also use another launch vehicle. But both are part of the same NASA program.