Recommendation Comes As Some Urge Dumping Ares I NASA Rocket For EELV Military Lifter

AIA Says Studying Shift To EELV Worthwhile, But AIA Doesn’t Recommend That Change

It would be worthwhile to study abandoning the ongoing Ares I NASA spaceship rocket in favor of adapting a military rocket for the mission, Aerospace Industry Association (AIA) briefers said today, while adding that AIA doesn’t take a position of advocating that change.

They spoke to space journalists at AIA offices near the Pentagon, where they released a report prepared in time for President-elect Obama’s entering the White House next week. The report also is being provided to members of Congress.

Their comments came as some advisers are suggesting to Obama that he could save money by dropping the Ares I rocket that NASA is developing in favor of the military-style Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, or EELV, for the Ares I rocket being developed by the NASA Constellation Program.

The EELV would be provided by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] (the Atlas V rocket) and The Boeing Co. [BA] (the Delta IV).

While Lockheed is developing the Orion space capsule, or crew exploration vehicle, that would carry astronauts into space, Lockheed isn’t involved in developing the Ares I rocket.

Rather, different segments of he rocket would be developed by Boeing, Alliant Techsystems Inc. [ATK], and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a unit of United Technologies Corp. [UTX].

At the AIA briefing, responding to a question about substituting the EELV for Ares I, Eric Thoemmes said that "the new administration should take a look at it." Aside from being AIA Space Council past chair, he also is vice president of Lockheed Martin Washington operations.

But, he added, AIA is "not recommending a change."

J.P. Stevens, vice president of AIA space policy, said that AIA isn’t recommending that NASA abandon an imminent planned test launch of the Ares I-X rocket.

Thoemmes also said that "if you cancel Ares I-X, you close the door on that program," referring to the Ares I development effort. "You should not do that without carefully" studying Ares I and other issues.

The current Constellation Program developing the Orion space capsule and Ares I rocket to lift it doesn’t envision that the much larger Ares V rocket would be rated for human- transport use, and the EELV also isn’t human rated at this time, Thoemmes noted.

Stevens said the American public may be dismayed when it discovers that the space shuttle fleet will stop flying next year, and the United States won’t have another spaceship to transport its astronauts to orbit until 2015.

NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said that the Ares I rocket would be twice as safe for astronauts as the EELV.

Both Stevens and Thoemmes said safety factors would have to be considered in any move to shift from Ares to EELV. "It wouldn’t make any sense to introduce a system that was less safe," Thoemmes said.

Stevens noted that one reason the shuttles will be retired in favor of the Orion-Ares spaceship system is that it would be far safer than the shuttles, on which 14 crew members died in two accidents, one involving Space Shuttle Challenger, the other involving Space Shuttle Columbia.

The AIA report also urges reviving a national aeronautics and space council to advise Obama on space matters.

Marion Blakey, AIA president and CEO, also said that AIA will urge further changes in U.S. export controls that limit exports of militarily sensitive technologies. Stevens said some U.S. firms are losing business to foreign contractors that don’t face such export controls.

The report suggests the administration provide the necessary budgets to continue critical, multi-year space programs.

Additional recommendations include creating a more favorable business environment, reducing gaps in climate measurement and establishing a comprehensive space protection strategy, among others.

To read the report titled "The Role of Space in Addressing America’s National Priorities" in full, please go to http://www.aia-aerospace.org/industry_information/reports_white_papers/ on the Web.