NASA has started a study on the affordability of the SLS rocket

NASA is conducting an internal review of the rocket’s affordability of the space launch system, two sources told Ars Technica.

Concerned about the disproportionate costs of the program, the NASA transition team appointed by President Joe Biden initiated the study. The analysis is being led by Paul McConnaughey, former deputy director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, as well as its chief engineer.

The SLS rocket program has been managed by Marshall for over a decade. Critics have derided it as an “employment program” intended to retain employees at key centers, such as Alabama-based Marshall, as well as those at prime contractors such as Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Aerojet Rocketdyne. These criticisms have been reinforced by frequent schedule delays – the SLS was originally scheduled to launch in 2016, and the rocket will now only be launched in 2022 – as well as cost overruns.

For now, costs appear to be the driving factor in White House concerns. With a maximum launch rate of one launch per year, the SLS rocket is expected to cost more than $ 2 billion per flight, and this is in addition to the $ 20 billion NASA has already spent to develop the vehicle and its ground systems. . Some of the new officials don’t think the Artemis Moon program is viable with such launch costs.

Cost issues

McConnaughey is leading the study for Kathy Lueders, chief of human spaceflight at NASA. Even before the study began, McConnaughey had lobbied for the SLS program to become more profitable. One of the goals of this analysis is to find ways for NASA’s large rocket to compete effectively with rockets developed by the private sector under the agency’s Artemis Moon program.

For example, while SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket doesn’t have as much lift capacity as the SLS rocket, it does have the advantage of being already in use and costing about a tenth less per flight. Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance are also developing heavy lift rockets intended to deliver components of a human landing system to lunar orbit.

Perhaps more importantly, SpaceX is continuing a flight test campaign of its spacecraft launch system, which could make its first orbital flight within the next 12 months. This is a launcher that could potentially overtake the SLS rocket, be reusable, and cost a fraction of the price. If SpaceX is successful in putting Starship into orbit, there would be little technical justification for continuing to government subsidize the less efficient SLS booster, which is consumable and costs much, much more.

Supporters of the SLS rocket are not blind to this. Some believe SpaceX will not be successful with its Starship program, and indeed, a myriad of technical challenges remain. Others think NASA could find ways to make the SLS rocket more competitive, and that’s one of the points of this study.

Another reason for the new analysis, however, is to assess whether NASA really needs the SLS rocket as part of the Artemis program. Already, the companies are planning to deliver the lunar lander to the moon with private rockets. The main job that remains for the SLS rocket is to launch Orion, with a crew, to the moon. Launching Orion may also be possible with private rockets, or the crew could simply launch onto SpaceX’s spacecraft, thus avoiding the need for Orion himself.

Commercial alternatives

While the Biden administration has pledged to continue the Artemis program started under President Donald Trump, it has other priorities for the space agency, in particular stepping up science on Earth to better understand climate change. . If the Office of Management and Budget no longer needs to spend $ 3 billion a year to “develop” the SLS rocket and its ground systems, the White House will at least consider that possibility.

A first step may involve slowing down or ending work on an SLS rocket upgrade, the sources say. Once NASA completes the first iteration of the space launch system rocket, the plan is to upgrade it to “Block 1B”, the main part of which is an improved second stage. This piece of hardware is known as the Exploration Upper Floor. In the Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Bill, Congress provided $ 400 million for the development of this milestone.

However, some senior NASA officials would like to at least suspend work on this upper floor. For them, it’s premature to work on an improved rocket when the first version of the SLS rocket is yet to be proven, especially if Biden space officials determine that the SLS rocket will only play a limited role in future ones. exploration plans. A source said Biden White House may only look to pilot SLS a few times, halt work on the exploration upper stage, and plan for Artemis’ future around commercial launchers.

However, all of this remains in flux and the US Congress will have a say in the future of NASA’s deep space exploration programs.