A few days ago, I read *Chris Bergin's* excellent article on the new ULA proposal; today, I read the actual AIAA white paper, A Commercially Based Lunar Architecture (http://www.ulalaunch.com/docs/public...ecture2009.pdf) that summarizes the overall plan. (Here's a link to ULA's index of publications (http://www.ulalaunch.com/index_published.html) as well--a treasure trove of cool info.) What a breath of fresh air! I am now convinced: Constellation/Ares must go (away) now! Over the course of two or three months, I've gone from ardent supporter to luke-warm apologist to reluctant naysayer, but now I'm a confirmed, hard-core opponent. We now have the new plan in hand. It is detailed, and it can work. What we need to do is stop farting around: Cxn, Direct, Augustine must all be consigned to the ashcan of history. ATK can go back to building ICBM motors. Here are some highlights that caught my admittedly idiosyncratic attention:* The plan can get us back to the Moon by 2018 within the current budget* Therefore, the extra $3 X 109 USD is not needed (though we'll take it for extra science missions if they want to give it away :))* International partners would be welcome but they would not be critical path components (i.e., the project can't be derailed by the vagaries of international politics or economics)* ISS gets to stay afloat until 2020* But Shuttle only has to be extended until 2014, if we're worried about "the gap"* The new lunar lander (which they call "Altair" for some reason, though it's really a different species than the Cxn Altair) lands horizontally and can be moved once it lands* A SSTO version of the lander can deliver 7 tons of ISRU propellant per launch to the L2 fuel depot* I suspect that the L2 depot will allow reusable SSTO sorties to any given point on the Moon* Leftover ACES 41 propulsion stages on the Moon can be reused as living quarters, fuel depots, and water and sewage storage* Human civilization on another world begins on the first day that astronauts land--the Moon would never again experience a single day when it wasn't inhabited by humansThus the next question is: where to emplace the first lunar base? I would suggest the good old Sea of Tranquility. It's easy to get to, the terrain isn't the most challenging place on the Moon, and there are fairly high quality metal ores there. Granted, there isn't any water there, but mining water out of a -240o C crater isn't going to be a trivial task in any case. Thus, the Sea of Tranquility would serve as the Moon's McMurdo. But eventually, a second, South Pole base would be set up at Shackleton. *Jon Clarke*, the ULA proposal will be the test of your ability to be open-minded and imbibe fresh information! :razz: