NASA revealed on Wednesday a design for its next colossal rocket that is to serve as the backbone for exploration of the solar system for the coming decades.
The rocket would be the most powerful since the Saturn V that took Americans to the moon four decades ago. NASA expects that it could lift astronauts on deep-space missions farther than anyone has ever traveled.
“We’re investing in technologies to live and work in space, and it sets the stage for visiting asteroids and Mars,” the NASA administrator, Major General Charles F. Bolden Jr., said at a news conference.
While better than no new heavy lift launch vehicle at all, this new launch vehicle is still woefully inadequate for rapid deep space travel. NASA needs to move beyond primitive chemical rockets, which are nothing more than enormous roman candles. To read the rest of the article, click here.