Part of the new manned rocket, called Ares I, will include a section similar to the shuttle external tank. So it, too, needs the foam, according to upper stage project manager Danny Davis.
"But it just won't matter," he said.
Davis and Krupp were among NASA managers who met with reporters during an open house for the media at Marshall, which manages the shuttle's rockets and is designing propulsion systems for the new lunar spacecraft.
Engineers developed the Apollo spacecraft in the 1960s using slide rules and handmade models, but Ares is being designed on computers. Engineers can test their ideas on virtual models, letting them know quickly which designs won't work.
Built in stages, Ares I will be stacked atop a single solid-rocket booster larger than the ones that lift the space shuttle into orbit.
Ares will fly higher and faster than the shuttle during the moments right after launch, making it subject to more stress. But with a cylindrical design, it won't have the shuttle's wings, tail or delicate heat-shielding tiles.
That difference should make the new rocket less susceptible to launch delays because of bad weather at Cape Canaveral, Krupp said.
"We are trying to design this vehicle to fly in any weather," he said. "Our goal is to not let weather constrain our launch window."
The Ares rocket will include concepts used in both the Apollo and shuttle programs, but Krupp said every piece that goes into the new spacecraft will be tested like it was brand new.
"I do not want to have another Challenger or Columbia on my watch. We do not want to lose another astronaut," he said.
