Arguing For Heavy Lift

In a letter to President Obama this week, 62 U. S. Representatives urged Mr. Obama to proceed immediately with the development of a heavy lift capability that could launch astronauts on deep space missions.

The Obama plan for NASA does support eventual deep space missions, including a manned mission to an asteroid in 2025, but puts off a decision on a heavy lift rocket for five years, to see what kind of technology is available at that time. The letter argues that we already know what kind of technology will be available in five years-- no breakthroughs are on the horizon-- we've already spent $10 billion on heavy lift under the Constellation program, and that money and progress shouldn't simply be thrown away, and that a skilled, experienced workforce already exists in this area, and that workforce should be maintained.

Of course, the nature of breakthroughs is that we don't necessarily see them coming until they break through. Critics also have said the Ares heavy lift rocket of the Constellation effort has some fairly serious flaws, though its supporters disagree. Any flaws that may exist could presumably be engineered away in five more years, but starting over has its advantages.

Seeing how this issue plays out this year should be interesting.