Ares - 8,382 bytes. 110 x 480 pixels.

The Ares launch vehicle was designed for support of Zubrin's Mars Direct expedition. It is a shuttle-derived design taking maximum advantage of existing hardware. It would use shuttle Advanced Solid Rocket Boosters, a modified shuttle external tank for handling vertically-mounted payloads, and a new Lox/LH2 third stage for trans-Mars or trans-lunar injection of the payload. Ares would put 121 tonnes into a 300 km circular orbit , boost 59 tonnes toward the moon or 47 tonnes toward Mars. Without the upper stage 75 tonnes could be placed in low earth orbit.

LEO Payload: 121,200 kg. to: 300 km Orbit. at: 28.5 degrees. Payload: 47,200 kg. to a: trans-Mars trajectory. Total Mass: 2,194,600 kg. Core Diameter: 10.0 m. Total Length: 82.3 m.

• Stage Number: 0. 2 x Shuttle ASRM Gross Mass: 625,000 kg. Empty Mass: 75,000 kg. Thrust (vac): 1,587,302 kgf. Isp: 286 sec. Burn time: 133 sec. Isp(sl): 259 sec. Diameter: 3.8 m. Span: 3.8 m. Length: 38.4 m. Propellants: Solid No Engines: 1. Hercules

• Stage Number: 1. 1 x Ares Stage 1 Gross Mass: 787,700 kg. Empty Mass: 64,200 kg. Thrust (vac): 887,764 kgf. Isp: 453 sec. Burn time: 480 sec. Isp(sl): 363 sec. Diameter: 8.7 m. Span: 8.7 m. Length: 43.0 m. Propellants: Lox/LH2 No Engines: 3. SSME

• Stage Number: 2. 1 x Ares Stage 2 Gross Mass: 172,000 kg. Empty Mass: 13,200 kg. Thrust (vac): 113,500 kgf. Isp: 465 sec. Burn time: 640 sec. Diameter: 10.0 m. Span: 10.0 m. Length: 16.0 m. Propellants: Lox/LH2 No Engines: 1. Ares LH2

• 465 - Zubrin, Robert, Baker, David A, and Gwynne, Owen, Mars Direct: A Simple, Robust, and Cost Effective Architecture for the Space Exploration Initiative, AIAA-91-0328, 1991. HTML when accessed: http://mars.nw.net/