Yeah this feels like a Falcon Heavy+SLS replacement. Second stage will be fully reusable so it should be cheaper than FH even for lighter loads.Yea, ITS was on the colonization level, the mini should be able to do early exploring and pathfinder missions.
On one hand it sucks they can't secure funding to jump directly into the full sized version, but on the other hand this'll still be an extremely useful rocket. Could take the first humans to Mars still.
I really want to see in orbit refueling and soon. this all opens up possibilities of missions weve previously dreamed of much sooner than the full ITS