During a conference held this Tuesday, NASA presented its proposal to solve the high vibrations problem in its Ares I rocket, which will be responsible for carrying the Orion capsule, and as many as six astronauts and small payloads to the International Space Station.

NASA engineers are currently working on mitigating the thrust oscillation problem on the Ares I rocket, by using a combination approach that implies an active tuned mass absorber, as well as battery-powered motors to move spring mounted weights up and down to dump de vibration out.

Furthermore, NASA is also looking at a passive “compliance structure,” basically a spring-loaded ring to detune the stack by softening the interface between the first and upper stages, while preserving lateral stability in the Ares I design concept.

NASA’s project managers described a shock absorber system that would reduce the vibrations to 0.25 Gs. Without any mitigation, gravitational forces five or six times the force of Earth would affect the mission of the Orion astronauts.

Garry Lyles, associate director of technical management at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center explained that the effects of the strong vibrations will mostly affect crew performance, namely the ability of the crew to read the console displays and respond to what they see, SpaceFlightNow reports.

NASA explained that they will mount 16 spring-mounted cilinders around the flared structure at the bottom of the rocket shield. A system of sensors will monitor the vibrations and will adjust the cilinders’ positions in order to reduce the level of the vibrations.

Ares I is part of NASA’s Constellation Program, which also includes the development of the Ares V heavy launch vehicle for cargo launcher, the Orion crew capsule, and the Altair lunar lander. On August 15, NASA successfully completed the engine test series for Ares I rocket.