SLS計画に対するGWU SPI Pace教授コメント
"Ironically, the budget pressures being put on the program right now would in my mind argue for returning to the previous plan," Pace said, "which was launch and build Ares I first and build Ares V later."
For Pace, Ares has several positives. First, a lot of money and time have already been spent on it, and that work would feed into the larger rocket later.
"You build on the work that was already done," Pace said of Ares I. "You can fly the MPCV. You have five-segment solid (rocket motors) that are already done. You have a use then on the upper stage for the J-2X engine, which is also in development."
Ares I would also "provide a backup option in case the commercial crew guys run into problems," Pace said. "And it's a foundation to be able to return to the moon with the international partners at some point."
That's important, Pace said, because "our potential international partners cannot do human mission to Mars or human missions to (near-Earth objects). They can do human and robotic missions to the Moon."
Pace also pointed out that the heavy-lift rocket wouldn't launch many times because SLS is a developmental program, not an operational one. The idea is to build a rocket for later missions, not cost average each flight during development.
