The Space Launch System rocket will power the agency’s Artemis program, but SLS stands at risk of going down as one of the biggest boondoggles in spaceflight history if NASA can’t find a way to control costs.
big bet to get astronauts back to the moon
Born of politics, SLS uses leftover space shuttle hardware, overly relies on status-quo contracts, and was designed with only one customer in mind: NASA. It’s jaw-droppingly expensive — estimated by NASA’s internal watchdog, the Office of Inspector General , to cost taxpayers $4.1 billion every time it launches — years behind schedule, and feared to already be outpaced by commercial competitors before it even leaves the planet.
Building SLS and efforts to modernize Apollo-era structures have skyrocketed the cost well beyond what was originally expected. The OIG, citing all potential costs of the entire Artemis program through 2025, estimates the total price tag at $93 billion, dwarfing the original estimate.Artemis 1 will be the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System rocket and the ground systems at Kennedy Space Center.
From top: The first full moon in June called the Strawberry Moon sets over the Orion capsule atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket at Kennedy Space Center. | NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. A lack of reusability is something that sets NASA’s SLS and Orion apart from competitors, but not necessarily in a good way.SpaceX’s Starship has been pushing the technological envelope for years during suborbital testing of prototypes and once operational could enable giant leaps for spaceflight.Already, NASA has constructed the Artemis program to be at least partially dependent on Starship.
From left: Two Starship prototypes stand side-by-side at SpaceX's Starbase production facility near Brownsville, Texas, on July 22, 2021. | SpaceX's human lander design is a single-stage solution with Starship, a fully reusable launch and landing system designed for travel to the moon, Mars, and beyond.John Blevins, chief engineer of NASA’s SLS program, told reporters in February that the agency made a calculation when devising plans for the mega moon rocket.
The agency swung between priorities first aimed at Mars then an asteroid and then back to the moon, while pressed after the shuttle’s 2011 retirement to ensure American astronauts regained access to low Earth orbit without having to depend on Russia.pushing the boundaries of space exploration. At least that’s what the Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program recommended to President George H.W. Bush in 1990.
From left: NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia, poised for its maiden flight from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in 1981. | NASA's Ares I-X rocket at Launch Pad 39B in 2009. | NASA’s Space Launch System rocket at Launch Pad 39B on March 18, 2022. “If were going to have to do commercial crew, their deal was they wanted support to build a big rocket owned and operated by NASA that would launch Orion — monster rocket that used existing contractors and shuttle parts,” said Garver.
The resulting NASA Authorization Act of 2010 committed the money to the Commercial Crew Program but reserved $3 billion for SLS development, earning the rocket its “Senate Launch System” moniker.With cost-plus contracts, NASA awards an initial fee, picks up the bill for cost overruns, and awards incentives along the way, all while maintaining ownership of the hardware.
Boeing, NASA’s primary Constellation contractor, was selected to build SLS’s core stage, the massive new fuel tank. Aerojet Rocketdyne was tasked to continue its work with the RS-25 engines and Orbital ATK — acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2017 — was chosen to continue work on the side boosters. The OIG has said there is a place for cost-plus contracting but only if it’s managed well with incentives for completed work.“It doesn’t matter if the project goes over budget to the cost-plus contractor because they’re getting paid no matter what,” Muncy told FLORIDA TODAY. “They don’t have to worry about what the total cost is except to the extent that Congress might cancel the program.”
The plan would also allow NASA to market the SLS to other customers in need of a super heavy-lift rocket for up to 10 non-Artemis missions.
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