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Pandemic to cost NASA up to $3 billion
A NASA audit concluded that costs imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on the agency could reach $3 billion, with several major science and exploration programs accounting for much of that cost.
A March 31 report by the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) stated that the agency expects that the pandemic's effects on the agency, ranging from closed facilities to disrupted supply chains, to be nearly $3 billion. Of that, about $1.6 billion came from 30 major programs and projects, defined by NASA as those with a total cost of at least $250 million.
[...] The project with the largest cost increase in the report is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, formerly known as the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). It reported $3 million in costs because of the pandemic in fiscal year 2020, but estimates nearly $400 million in additional impacts in future years. The mission has a lifecycle cost of $3.9 billion.
[...] The Space Launch System had the second-highest cost increase in terms of overall dollars, at $363 million, of which $8 million was in fiscal year 2020 and $355 million in fiscal years 2021 through 2023. A three-month delay in the first SLS mission, Artemis 1, along with "rephrasing production" each accounted for about one-third of the costs. The rest came from "surge costs" to compress schedules as well as the costs of facility shutdowns.
The Orion spacecraft suffered $146 million in costs, including $5 million in fiscal year 2020 and $66 million in fiscal year 2021. Because the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 mission was nearly complete at the time the pandemic hit, the largest effects were on the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 2 and 3 missions, both still in production. Those problems extended to Europe, with delays in the production of the European Service Module for the Artemis 2 Orion.
(Score: 1) by melyan on Wednesday April 07 2021, @10:54PM (8 children)
Up to $100 trillion at this point?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 07 2021, @11:47PM (7 children)
This is what happens when bureaucrats get unchecked power; to gift $5 trillion to their billionaire friends, they destroy 20 times more.
The Soviet Union self-destructed in exactly the same manner. Seems no one has learned anything from that.
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @12:13AM (5 children)
Let's send the bill to China.... after they pay they'll think twice about developing any more bioweapons.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @12:16AM
*laughs in Mandarin*
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday April 08 2021, @12:19AM (3 children)
There are some particularly stupid comments on this site today, but this one might be the stupidist.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @12:23AM
Starring Part Time Zombie as The Stupidist. His powers of spelling will astound you!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @12:29AM
哈哈哈 I thought it was funny
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @01:14PM
Don't be so hard on yourself.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday April 09 2021, @01:40PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves