The Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) stands nearly as tall at 358 ft as the 1960s Soviet N-1 direct-ascent moon rocket next to it on your right. It uses a liquid fuel first stage with augmented thrust from the two solid-rocket stacks on each side, like the space shuttle, but Ares V will be an uncrewed cargo lifter with a liquid-fuel second stage, capable of propelling 130 metric tons (287,000 pounds) to Low Earth Orbit or 65 metric tons (143,000 pounds) on a translunar trajectory (to the moon).
NASA's current schedule plans for their replacement for the Saturn V lunar rocket to be built and tested by 2019, with the first American return to Luna planned in December of that year - the 50th anniversary of the first US expedition landing at Tranquility Base.
Ares V is the heavy-lift rocket that will carry the lunar lander and the trans-lunar stage to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The smaller Ares I will then carry the four-person Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) up to meet with the Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM) and the Earth Departure Stage (EDS) already waiting for the orbital rendezvous and docking with the crew of the Lunar Expedition.
Later, with a decade of experience gained from the lunar landings engineering, testing, and redesign phase, Ares V rockets will begin lifting the components and modules of the first Martian Expedition into their LEO assembly orbit for the next step in the continuing human exploration of space.
For more information:
Author(s): Paradox Olbers [with credit and thanks to astronautix.com for the numbers] (unknown date prior to 2007 December 31)
