USING EUROPE TO REPLACE THE SHUTTLE

ARIANE 5 IS GOOD ENOUGH.

The Constellation program is a stop gap measure. So why to create it from scratch, at great cost, and technological uncertainty, and not use instead Ariane 5, which exists, is reliable, and has the launch capability?

The reasons for sending human beings in space at this point are borderline (whereas robotic space science is a must, and starved by present US and NASA policies). Space launch, before the space elevator, basically uses a chemical propulsion principle discovered in China about 900 years ago (according to legend the first Chinese rocket engineer, Wan-Hu, died in the first attempted launch; he 94 rockets attached to two kites, and it would have been the first attempt at motorized flying).

It is enlightening to compare European and American space science policies. At this point Europe does a lot of good science (a French space telescope, Corot, is searching for extrasolar planets, for example, well in advance of the similar NASA project).

Ares V seems too large for anything reasonable looking forward for the next 15 years (there is no urgency to rush to Mars, robots will do better for now, including maybe setting up a base there).

Europe has resisted the call of engaging in launching people in orbit, although it has invested a lot in the space station and has the capability with the Ariane 5 and ATV combination. The ATV, the Automated Transfer Vehicle was successfully launched to the ISS in March 2008, and docked to the station for 5 months, bringing supplies, and pushing the station to a higher orbit (to compensate for aerodynamic drag). The ATV was also used to brake and drop the station by a mile to avoid a large piece of Russian space debris. The ISS crew used the ATV for personal hygiene and sleeping (it's large and quiet, which the station is not).

It seems that it should be only natural that Orion be modified to sit on top of a variant of the ATV. Ariane 5 is already scheduled to launch the next US Space Telescope, and increasing Euro-American technological cooperation can only benefit both sides. Ariane Vs and ATVs could be shipped to the USA, as they are to French Guyana now, and, or, made under license in the USA. This is strategically not a problem (the extensive Franco-Americano-British nuclear weapon cooperation is incomparably more sensitive, defense-wise).

France had the good reflex when, after trying to develop the erroneous home grown graphite-gas nuclear technology (the design used for Chernobyl), she bought US technology from Westinghouse (since then transmogrified). There is no shame in getting a little help from one's good friends. That is what trade is all about. Europe has some better systems right now, let the USA use them. In turn Europe could use Orion, and splash in the ocean too (although, with Ariane 5 greater lift, Orion could be equipped with land landing capability, like Soyuz).

Patrice Ayme