QUANTUM COMPUTER CHIPS NOW ONE STEP CLOSER TO REALITY Essay

QUANTUM COMPUTER CHIPS NOW ONE STEP CLOSER TO REALITY - Essay Example And the overall costing of this demonstration is $445 million. It is the first time in 34 years that a rocket other than the space shuttle will stand tall at the Launch Pad 39-B. NASA specially modified this pad for the erection of this rocket, which is purposed to carry astronauts to the moon. The test rocket includes a solid-rocket first stage, followed by a mock second stage, and dummy Orion crew capsule atop to stimulate the specified weight and size of Ares I. The Ares I rocket is by far the tallest booster in service and about to fly, and stands about 100 meters (327 feet) high, i.e. 14 stories taller than NASA's space shuttles. Thin and exceptionally tall, the Ares I-X depicts the actual Ares I rocket which will carry the astronauts into the orbit, possibly by 2015. Being a mock up, no person or payload will be on board during the demonstration (Moskowitz) (Dunn). Comparatively, the shuttle is 184 feet tall. The Saturn V rockets were a record-setting 363 feet that ferried astronauts to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. John Shannon, shuttle program manager stated that Ares' first stage boosters is embedded with proven technology; it is the same kind of solid rocket booster used to propel space shuttles.