(NASA Administrator Bill Nelson noted that the $4 billion per-launch cost estimate includes development costs that the space agency hopes will be amortized over the course of 10 or more missions.) With the estimated cost per launch standing at more than $4 billion for the first four Artemis missions, it’s possible commercial rockets, like the massive Mars rocket SpaceX is building, could get the job done more efficiently, as the chief of space policy at the nonprofit exploration advocacy group Planetary Society, Casey Dreier, recently observed in an article laying out both sides of the SLS argument. Many have questioned why SLS needs to exist at all. The Artemis program manager at NASA, Mike Sarafin, also said during a post-launch news conference that the rocket “performed spot-on.”īut with its complicated history and its hefty price tag, SLS could still face detractors in the years to come. “And I don’t ever remember a launch that was as clean as that one was, which for a first-time rocket - especially one that had been through as much as this one through all the testing - really put an exclamation point on how reliable and robust this vehicle really is.” “I worked over 50 Space Shuttle launches,” Boeing SLS program manager John Shannon told CNN by phone. And officials at NASA and Boeing said its first launch two months ago was practically flawless. In various op-eds, the rocket has also been deemed “ the result of unfortunate compromises and unholy politics,” a “ colossal waste of money” and an “ irredeemable mistake.”ĭespite all the heated debate that has followed SLS, by all accounts, the rocket is here to stay. The OIG report also included correspondence from NASA, which noted in 2018 that it “had already recognized the opportunity to improve contract performance management” and agreed with the report’s recommendations. And a report in 2020 laid out similar grievances.įor its part, Boeing has pushed back on the criticism, pointing to rigorous testing requirements and the overall success of the program. “Cost increases and schedule delays of Core Stage development can be traced largely to management, technical, and infrastructure issues driven by Boeing’s poor performance,” one 2018 report from NASA’s OIG, the first in a series of audits the OIG completed surrounding NASA’s management of the SLS program, read. 16, 2022, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mobile launcher with NASA's SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building's High Bay 3 to Launch Complex 39B on Tuesday, Aug. NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) repeatedly called out what it referred to as Boeing’s “poor performance,” as a contributing factor in the billions of dollars in cost overruns and schedule delays that plagued SLS. And the decade-plus that the rocket was in development sparked years of blistering criticism targeted toward the space agency and Boeing, which holds the primary contract for the SLS rocket’s core. The towering launch vehicle was originally expected to take flight in 2016. There have been numerous delays with the development of the rocket at the center of the Artemis I mission: NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket ever flown - and one of the most controversial. This program has, in one version or another, been ongoing since 2004.” For perspective, we went from creating NASA to landing humans on the moon in just under 11 years. “It is always exciting to see a new vehicle fly. “I have mixed feelings, though I hope that we have a successful mission,” former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao said in an opinion roundtable interview with The New York Times. On one hand, there was the thrill of watching NASA take its first steps toward eventually getting humans back to the lunar surface on the other, a shadow cast by the long and costly process it took to get there. In the fervor-filled days leading up to the November 16 launch of the long-awaited Artemis I mission, an uncrewed trip around the moon, some industry insiders admitted to having conflicting emotions about the event.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |