During the first meeting of the Augustine panel, a committee charged with reviewing the future of U.S. human spaceflight, on Wednesday, members heard several private companies argue that their launch vehicles would be cheaper and more reliable than the Ares rockets currently being developed by NASA to succeed the aging space shuttles. The Ares are part of the Constellation program which outlines plans to send humans back to the moon by 2020, and then to Mars and beyond.

The committee's report isn't due until the end of August, but Norm Augustine, the committee chairman, has already said that some commercial launch efforts appear further along than he previously thought. Of the issues brought forth, Augustine said that the availability of commercial rockets as an alternative to launch Orion and the concept of reusing the space shuttle launch system, were the most interesting.

The committee heard from United Space Alliance, which says it could use an existing Delta rocket to launch the Orion crew capsule into space sooner and cheaper than the Ares I rocket, which is first scheduled to launch in 2015. The Aerospace Corporation added that it could use a modified Delta IV Heavy rocket to save between $3 billion and $6 billion. (Aviation Week has a report about a new study that suggests various advantages of using the Delta IV over the Ares I--although the report has not been released.)

SpaceX and Orbital Sciences also offered their services for taking cargo and humans to the International Space Station, not only to fill the gap between when the shuttles retire and the next launch vehicle is ready for flight, but to service the station afterwards to save money. Both companies already have a contract with NASA through the COTS program for cargo flights to the station.

Lastly, a company called Direct proposed using space shuttle parts to build a new launch vehicle, claiming that the components will already be tested, and it will be cheaper and faster to build.

While the panel did not hear from Ares program managers, I was able to speak with many of them while reporting on the Ares I-X test-flight rocket, which will launch in August. (The article will appear in the July/August print issue, and publish online June 23.) When asked about being overbudget and behind schedule, Jon Cowart, deputy project manager said, "if Congress wants to give us more money so we can accelerate the development, we would love to do it, but right now we are in a go-as-you-pay situation."

The recommendations of the Augustine panel are critical to the future of U.S. human spaceflight, and decisions on NASA's budget are on hold until the panel concludes. Despite the uncertainty, Steve Cook, NASA Ares project manager at Goddard Space Flight Center, remains enthusiastic about the future."This is an exciting time, and we have a team that is motivated to build the exploration launch system to move us beyond low earth orbit," he says. Follow and take part in panel discussions. Next topic: What role should international partners play in future U.S. spaceflight plans, and why?

Technicians complete connections between the LRO and LCROSS spacecraft and the Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Florida. Credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

Update 6:18 p.m. EDT: the orbiters have launched! Follow their mission progress.

At approximately 5:12 P.M. EDT today, a pair of robotic lunar "scouts" will hopefully be launched aboard an Atlas V rocket. Their mission is to map the moon's surface, search for ice, and assess levels of radiation in the environment. The flight is the first U.S. mission to the moon in more than a decade, and the first step toward returning humans by 2020.

The first of the two lunar probes is a spacecraft called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), and it is part of NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. Richard Vondrak, a project scientist for LRO, told me during an interview last year that "LRO is the most advanced lunar satellite NASA has built. It will provide information that would have been impossible to collect a few decades ago."

LRO will carry seven instruments, including a cosmic-ray telescope, to measure the effects that lunar radiation could have on humans, and a laser altimeter, to map the surface of the moon. It will also take high-resolution images and temperature measurements.

The second lunar probe is a smaller spacecraft called the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), and it has a simpler mission: to crash into the surface of the moon where experts believe that ice may be present. Unlike LRO's four-day cruise to the moon, it will take LCROSS months to get there. It will ride on the Atlas V upper stage and will first observe the upper stage's smackdown before flying through the plume and crashing into the moon's surface minutes later. LRO and the Hubble Space Telescope will observe the collisions, hopefully viewing and sensing any water ice that gets thrown up.

Engineers are anxious to get the probes into space--the $583 million mission has been delayed since October 2008, and has endured more setbacks this week due to Space Shuttle launch delays. In addition, China, Japan, and India have launched lunar probes within the past three years. (China's Chang'e 1 and Japan's Kaguya both launched in 2007 and crashed into the moon this year.) Russia and Europe have more recently joined in, announcing their own lunar ambitions but not fully disclosing their plans. The race to return humans to the moon is well under way.

The probes have three chances to launch this evening, and a few opportunities on Friday. But the flight window closes on Saturday, and then it will be another two weeks before the spacecrafts get another shot at liftoff.

Atlas V launches from Florida carrying LRO and LCROSS. Credit: NASA

Damage to the shuttle's heat shield. The white pockmarks in the black tiles were caused by a piece of debris that struck the shuttle during liftoff. The debris made multiple hits on four heat-resistant tiles lining the forward right side of the shuttle, just ahead of where its body and its starboard wing meet. Credit: NASA

During a 10-hour-long inspection of Space Shuttle Atlantis's heat shield on Tuesday, astronauts found a trail of damage on its starboard wing. This was caused by launch debris that fell from the shuttle's external tank during liftoff. NASA says that the dings are minor but is taking no chances, and it will investigate the damaged wing further.

Ever since the 2003 Columbia disaster, when damage to the shuttle's wing went undetected and the shuttle broke apart during reentry, killing seven astronauts, NASA has developed new technology to better inspect the shuttle, and has equipped astronauts with the necessary tools should a repair need to be conducted. In the worst case, if the shuttle is damaged beyond repair, NASA has a second shuttle, Endeavour, on the launch pad ready to depart on a rescue mission.

New policies put in place after the Columbia disaster require astronauts to inspect the shuttle twice: once after liftoff, and once again before descent. Atlantis astronauts spotted the damage during their routine post-liftoff check, in which they scan the heat shield using a pole mounted with a camera and laser sensors. Sensors on the shuttle's wings also recorded an impact 106 seconds after liftoff, and cameras on the external fuel tank showed debris falling at the same time.

The images from the astronauts' inspection were then beamed to Earth, where they were analyzed by a team of image experts. "This is not something that we're very concerned about, but we want the team to do our normal assessment and evaluation of it. And we will do that overnight tonight," LeRoy Cain, deputy shuttle-program manager at NASA, said during a press briefing yesterday.

The dings could compromise the shuttle's thermal protection system, which is a combination of reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) on the wing leading edge, thermal blankets on the fuselage, and thermal protective tiles covering the underside of the vehicle and the nose cap. This system protects the spacecraft and its human occupants from the extreme heat of reentry into Earth's atmosphere.

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Cape Canaveral, FL, on May 11 for a final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space Shuttle Endeavour on Launch Pad 39B. Credit: Brittany Sauser