Analyst Sees ULA Papers As "Final Nails" For Constellation.

In an article for Popular Mechanics (9/14), aerospace analyst Rand Simberg discussed the set of white papers that the United Launch Alliance will announce at the AIAA Space 2009 conference. According to Simberg, "The papers ULA is presenting this week show the kind of innovation and boldness that NASA has been avoiding." Simberg believes the papers, which propose using fuel depots and the Delta IV and Atlas V launchers instead of NASA's Ares rockets for exploration, "would satisfy some of the requirements of the Aldridge Commission from five years ago in a way that NASA's current Constellation plans never have." They "may well mark the final nails in the Ares and Constellation coffin, signaling that this fall could see yesterday's heresy become tomorrow's new conventional wisdom."