Responding to guidance directing NASA to lean on space shuttle and Ares rocket technologies for a new heavy-lift launch vehicle, rocket-builder ATK is fast-tracking work on parts of an extended five-segment solid-fueled booster likely to be incorporated on future exploration missions.

File photo of the DM-2 test firing Aug. 31. Credit: NASA

The Minneapolis-based aerospace and arms contractor is putting other portions of the five-segment motor design on the back burner, choosing to focus on technologies most likely to be used on a heavy launcher derived from shuttle and Ares designs.

Alliant Techsystems Inc., or ATK, is still receiving federal funding for the Ares 1 rocket first stage, despite its cancellation by the Obama administration and in a NASA authorization bill signed into law last month.

Thanks to a continuing resolution, which continues funding for NASA programs near last year's levels, ATK is continuing development of a five-segment solid rocket motor originally designed for the Constellation program.

The money allows ATK to press on with preparations for a third development motor, called DM-3, to be fired in the late summer of 2011, according to Charlie Precourt, vice president and general manager of space launch systems at ATK.

In an Oct. 27 interview, Precourt said four segments of the motor have already been cast with solid propellant. The fifth segment will be filled by the end of 2010, then the whole rocket will be X-ray tested and moved to a hillside test area in the spring of 2011.

Engineers will place hundreds of sensors on the test motor to collect data on forces, pressures, temperatures and other variables during the planned two-minute, five-second burn.

Two development motors were successfully tested in September 2009 and August 2010. ATK managers previously said each development motor firing costs about $75 million.

The Ares first stage test regime called for four development motor firings, followed by three qualification tests.

DM-3 is one of three priorities identified by ATK and NASA. Officials are also continuing development and testing of an upgraded avionics package and planning a critical design review.

Work in those areas will come at the expense of other tasks, including a new forward skirt and frustum design that was specific to cancelled the Ares 1 rocket, Precourt said.

"If this is for heavy-lift as a side strapped-on booster, then we may go back to the nose cone shape that we had on shuttle," Precourt said. "We prioritized on those types of logical thinking."

NASA agreed to the scope changes.

"We didn't do this unilaterally. We worked this with NASA," Precourt said. "What are the things that make the most sense to work first during the continuing resolution that enable the system to be most ready for the outcome in this budget process, which could redefine, to some extent, what we end up producing as an end product."

ATK's goal is to advance the motor's design as much as possible, making it an attractive candidate for use on a heavy-lifter.

"We picked three key items to work on through the continuing resolution and into (fiscal year 2011) as the final decision-making goes on," Precourt said. "Those three things are to continue DM-3 to a test firing because that data is crucial to any configuration that we would fly. The second item is to continue to mature the design to CDR and make it ready for flight-testing with other elements as soon as possible. And third is to continue to work on the avionics. We have gone a long way in avionics improvement on this system from what was on shuttle."

The solid motor's 1553 avionics bus is adaptable for nearly any role on a future launcher, accepting interfaces with most upper stages or flying on strap-on boosters, according to Precourt.

The continuing resolution was passed by Congress before it recessed for the mid-term elections. The current continuing resolution expires Dec. 3, when it will be replaced by a fiscal year 2011 appropriations bill or renewed through early next year.

ATK is receiving $78 million under the Ares 1 first stage contract through Dec. 3, according to J.D. Harrington, a NASA spokesperson.

Although the Ares 1 rocket - the new crew launch vehicle in project Constellation - is no longer in NASA's future, ATK is using the extra few months of funding to further mature the first stage motor.

The authorization act gave a blueprint for NASA's 2011 budget, calling for the immediate development of a heavy-lift launch vehicle for exploration missions beyond Earth orbit. Crew transportation services to the space station, one of the missions for the Ares 1 rocket, will be turned over to the private sector.

Artist's concept of the Ares 5 rocket, the heavy-lift launcher terminated with the cancellation of the Constellation program. A new heavy-lifter using more shuttle parts could replace the Ares 5. Credit: NASA

Congress also directed NASA to reuse as many systems as possible from the space shuttle program and work already underway on the Ares rocket.

That language was inserted with the help of legislators from Utah, the site of ATK's sprawling solid rocket motor assembly and test facility. It gave ATK's solid rocket motor design a clear advantage as engineers study the design of the heavy-lift booster, company leaders said.

"I think we're very well-positioned," said Mark DeYoung, ATK president and CEO. "I think that NASA will look for opportunities to examine other technologies for those vehicles. We intend to participate in the pursuit of other technologies and other solutions for those vehicles, as well as leverage our solid capability in solid propulsion, no pun intended."

The five-segment motor produces 3.6 million pounds of thrust. The rocket could be used as strap-on boosters on the heavy-lift launcher, but NASA has not decided how it will select a design for the rocket.

"I think we're in a very good position if they choose to compete," DeYoung told investors Nov. 4. "If they choose to continue down the path of the investments which have been made in heavy launch and in manned spaceflight, we're clearly an incumbent that would be ready to receive a sole-source award."

Precourt said ATK participates in heavy-lift rocket studies with NASA. The company was also one of 13 firms selected by NASA this week for negotiations that could lead to contract awards for systems analysis and trade studies on the super-rocket.

The industrial studies were solicited in a Broad Agency Announcement released in June.

Other companies selected by NASA include Aerojet General Corp., Analytical Mechanics Associates, Andrews Space, Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Orbital Sciences Corp., Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Science Applications International Corp., Space Exploration Technologies Corp., United Launch Alliance and United Space Alliance.

Michael Braukus, a NASA spokesperson, said the total value of the potential awards is $7.5 million from fiscal year 2010 funds. The maximum value of each individual contract is $625,000.

NASA is asking the firms for reports on heavy-lift launch vehicle architectures using heritage shuttle and Ares systems. The companies will also evaluate alternative designs and identify propulsion technology gaps, according to NASA.