Don’t abandon NASA-led legacy systems

The SpaceX Falcon Heavy has generated significant excitement — and rightfully so. It was yet another achievement for a growing commercial space industry. However, do launches like the Falcon Heavy provide substitutes for NASA-led projects such as the Space Launch System (SLS)?

As impressive as progress has been with companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin and others, it would be unwise to turn away from SLS, which provides a much greater lift capability to the moon and Mars. Such a move could very well end up delaying progress in achieving our space exploration goals.

On its second launch, the SLS will have a lift capacity of 105 metric tons to a low Earth orbit, and over 35 metric tons to an orbit around the moon, providing a critical capability for missions to lunar orbit and eventually to Mars. Other companies have also proposed concepts for heavy-lift vehicles, and we should absolutely stimulate advancement of these vehicles with appropriate commercial incentives.

Like in aviation, a mixed fleet is the best way to ensure mission success. Over time, the strengths and weaknesses of each vehicle will reveal themselves. However, having multiple options can provide us more flexibility and safeguards against delays and failures of certain mission elements. And as National Space Council Executive Secretary Scott Pace recently said, “There are critical capabilities that a nation needs to have, like aircraft carriers, and SLS is that kind of capability.”

That said, nobody should be guaranteed contracts in perpetuity. Over time, market forces should decide which vehicles survive and which do not, allowing the government to choose from several alternatives.

As we take steps to send humans to the moon and Mars, we should aggressively stimulate private-sector investment and development as we move outward into the solar system, but we should also not abandon NASA-led legacy systems unless proven alternatives materialize that are clearly superior in capability, reliability and cost.

Chris Carberry is CEO of Explore Mars Inc.