NASA is set to do its first full test of the next generation Ares 1X rocket next week, even amid concerns over NASA funding. The Constellation Program’s centerpiece is supposed to be the rocket that launches Orion, the ship that will take astronauts back to the moon. Maybe. Below is a rendering of the test launch, which will just shoot Ares high into the atmosphere and then back down into the Atlantic.

From The Guardian:

The rocket is due to lift off next Tuesday on a $455m unmanned test flight that will allow Nasa engineers to check the rocket's performance and hardware as it soars to an altitude of about 25 miles before crashing down into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Ares rocket is the first new design to emerge from Nasa in 30 years and is the workhorse of the space agency's Constellation programme, which combines two rockets and a crew capsule to take astronauts and equipment to the International Space Station, the moon and possibly beyond.

The demonstration flight is a milestone in Nasa's plans to ready the Ares rockets for service in 2016. The agency is expected to retire its ailing fleet of space shuttles as early as next year, leaving astronauts reliant on Russia to get them into space.

Nasa officials plan to go ahead with the Ares 1-X test flight even as Barack Obama's administration considers plans to shelve the Constellation programme through lack of funding.

A detailed review of Nasa's future programmes recently delivered to the White House raised concerns that the space agency does not have deep enough pockets to fulfil its vision for a return to the moon. The review said the agency may have to abandon the Ares rockets and switch to a cheaper design.