H/T to Instapundit. An AP article here at space.com discusses an alternative rocket design for returning humans to the moon. According to the story, actual NASA engineers are also working on the program, secretly, frustrated by the primary program called Ares, they have named their competing idea Jupiter and NASA isn’t celebrating their attempts, saying it’s not a good design.
From the article:
The Jupiter design is being reviewed by a team of 57 volunteer engineers, from line engineers up to NASA middle managers, Tierney said. Those numbers are dwarfed by NASA's Ares workforce, which has thousands of government workers and contractors.
History is replete with stories of government designers and program managers looking with disdain at competing ideas and designs and a few include the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor, the WWII Higgins Boat, and even the High Speed Vessel program I worked on starting way back in 2000. With modern computers and a connected network of personnel, NASA better watch it’s back.