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NASA SLS megarocket shortage causes tug-of-war between moon missions, Europa exploration:
NASA is choosing between human missions to the moon and a robotic mission to Jupiter's icy moon Europa as the agency manages its limited supply of megarockets in the coming years.
The agency began developing its Space Launch System (SLS) in 2010, intending for the rocket to be the agency's primary vehicle for crewed and deep-space missions. But work has been slow, and NASA and Boeing, which builds the vehicles' two main stages, are only now testing the core stage of the first SLS. It won't fly until late next year, when it makes the first flight of NASA's Artemis lunar-exploration program — an uncrewed trip around the moon known as Artemis 1. The schedule will therefore be tight for the third Artemis launch, which aims to land two astronauts near the moon's south pole in 2024.
Meanwhile, engineers are building the Europa Clipper spacecraft, designed to learn enough about the moon's ice shell, subsurface ocean and geology to help scientists determine whether the hidden ocean may suit the needs of life as we know it. And Congress has mandated the agency also use an SLS rocket to launch Europa Clipper — without consideration for whether one may be available.
[...] In terms of rocket science, right now, Europa Clipper can launch on a commercial vehicle, like SpaceX's Falcon Heavy or United Launch Alliance's Delta-IV Heavy rocket, although the mission would then need a longer cruise time to reach its destination.
But in terms of the law, NASA's hands are tied.
"Because of that, we're planning to build the Europa Clipper and then put it into storage, because we're not going to have an SLS rocket available until 2025," Bridenstine said. "That's the current plan. I don't think that's the right plan, but we're going to follow the law."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday October 27 2020, @03:05PM (3 children)
I like comparing to FH since it is flying. Even a fully expended FH, thus lifting maximum payload weight, is cheaper than SLS.
Starship is making progress. And it will be exciting. If it materializes, I wonder how it will change the perception of SLS.
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(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday October 27 2020, @03:26PM (2 children)
There's already plans to use Falcon Heavy + Dragon XL for the Lunar Gateway, possibly Falcon Heavy for Europa Clipper, and a Starship lunar landing variant. Missions that were originally intended for SLS are shifting to SpaceX.
Further Starship development, landing Starship on the Moon, etc. will increase pressure to kill SLS. But SLS will probably survive to its first launch in late 2021, early 2022. Best case scenario, it will only fly once, and the crewed SLS + Orion launches will be cancelled.
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(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday October 27 2020, @05:22PM (1 child)
What you describe, the cancellation of SLS, is so remarkably sensible that it strains credibility that it could or ever would happen. Like a wild kook theory found online somewhere.
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(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday October 27 2020, @06:05PM
It'll be really hard to cancel the SLS program in the short term - its early missions (and thus it) were made almost politically unkillable in response to previous Shuttle replacements being repeatedly killed in response to election cycles.
On the bright side, it seems that NASA is seriously (and officially) considering Falcon Heavy and Starship for future missions, so even if SLS isn't formally killed, it may well be mothballed as soon as the first batch of "politically immortal" rockets is completed.