Debating the future of the space program

NASA's current plan is to finish developing and put into service the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles as part of the Constellation program. But some folks at NASA think they have a better, cheaper, faster way of replacing the Space Transportation System (aka the Space Shuttle). It's called DIRECT and envisions using a single launch vehicle family called Jupiter that would more fully be based on current off-the-shelf technology.

The latest news on it can be found here:

NASA rocket scientists secretly working on what they say is a better, safer rocket want President Obama to ditch the space agency's official space-shuttle replacement design and pick theirs instead.

Representatives of the alternative project, named DIRECT, met with members of Obama's transition team before the inauguration in January and are now pressing Congress and the White House to order an independent review.

The renegade NASA engineers, along with others from space contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, began meeting secretly three years ago to share doubts about the Ares I and Ares V rockets, which are the linchpins of the upcoming Constellation program.

The DIRECT team counters that their single 'Jupiter' rocket could be off the ground sooner than the Ares, that all of its parts have been already tested and that it would cost less money.

Now I'm not a rocket scientist but it seems to me that the arguments in favor of this alternate program have merit. On the other hand, some smart people are behind the Ares launch vehicle designs as well. My prediction is that NASA goes ahead with Ares while Jupiter becomes a historical footnote. But stranger things have happened.