Farewell Ares 1?

Is Ares program dead? NASA told to explore new ways to reach the moon, Orlando Sentinel
“Members of the presidentially appointed panel reviewing the future of America’s manned-space plans have asked NASA to design a new way to send astronauts back to the moon. The request could result in NASA ditching the controversial Ares I rocket design that the agency has spent the past four years and more than $3 billion creating and defending. … Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin recently wrote Augustine, the review panel’s chairman, saying that the idea was feasible but that he did not support it. “The dual-Ares 5 launch does offer considerably more capability to the Moon than the baseline Ares 1/Ares 5 scheme,” he wrote to Augustine in an e-mail last week that was copied to the Orlando Sentinel. “However, it also comes at much greater marginal cost, and therefore I do not, and we at NASA in general did not, recommend it for the baseline approach.”
Is Ares I a dead rocket after $3 billion spent?, Huntsville Times
“NASA spokeswoman Ashley Edwards confirmed that the agency is studying alternative designs to Ares but said that’s normal with a new rocket design. But Dennis Wingo, a Huntsville space expert who has worked on various rocket concepts that the Augustine Commission is studying, said reviews and alternative options may well spell the end of the Ares I program. “It really looks like the deck chairs are being rearranged,” Wingo said. “They are looking at other options because this option is not going forward.”
Numerous benefits of space exploration, Ralph Hall, The Hill
“I strongly believe that we must close the gap in U.S. access to space and it is my hope that the Augustine panel comes to a similar conclusion. NASA has made great progress in developing the Orion vehicle and the Ares launch systems. Constellation is already in the development phase, so to abandon this plan now would be a massive waste of time, money and resources.”