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Title    NASA Wants to Buy SLS Rockets at Half Price, Fly Them Into the 2050s
Date    Thursday October 28 2021, @09:51PM
Author    martyb
Topic   
from the why-buy-one-when-you-can-buy-two-at-twice-the-price? dept.
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/10/28/1952227

takyon writes:

NASA wants to buy SLS rockets at half price, fly them into the 2050s

NASA has asked the US aerospace industry how it would go about "maximizing the long-term efficiency and sustainability" of the Space Launch System rocket and its associated ground systems.

[...] In its request NASA says it would like to fly the SLS rocket for "30 years or more" as a national capability. Moreover, the agency wants the rocket to become a "sustainable and affordable system for moving humans and large cargo payloads to cislunar and deep-space destinations."

[...] Among the rocket's chief architects was then-Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who steered billions of dollars to Kennedy Space Center in his home state for upgraded ground systems equipment to support the rocket. Back in 2011, he proudly said the rocket would be delivered on time and on budget.

"This rocket is coming in at the cost of... not only what we estimated in the NASA Authorization act, but less," Nelson said at the time. "The cost of the rocket over a five- to six-year period in the NASA authorization bill was to be no more than $11.5 billion. This costs $10 billion for the rocket." Later, he went further, saying, "If we can't do a rocket for $11.5 billion, we ought to close up shop."

After more than 10 years, and more than $30 billion spent on the rocket and its ground systems, NASA has not closed up shop. Rather, Nelson has ascended to become the space agency's administrator.

Previously:

Artemis Program Requires More Cash to Reach Moon by 2024; SLS Could Cost 1,000x More Than Starship
NASA OIG: Tell Congress that Moon Rocket is Over Budget and Behind Schedule
NASA Spent a Decade and Nearly $1 Billion for a Single Launch Tower
NASA Will Pay a Staggering $146 Million for Each SLS Rocket Engine
Charlie Bolden Says the Quiet Part Out Loud: SLS Rocket Will Go Away
NASA Lays out $28 Billion Plan to Return Astronauts to the Moon in 2024
NASA SLS Megarocket Shortage Causes Tug-of-war Between Moon Missions, Europa Exploration
SLS: Nasa 'Megarocket' Assembly Begins in Florida
NASA's Europa Clipper has been Liberated from the Space Launch System
After a Decade, NASA's Big Rocket Fails its First Real Test
NASA's Massive Artemis Moon Rocket Set for Second Hot Fire Test Today 1500 EDT (1900 UTC)
NASA Has Begun a Study of the SLS Rocket's Affordability [Updated]
COVID-19 Pandemic Estimated to Cost NASA $3 Billion

Original Submission

Links

  1. "takyon" - https://soylentnews.org/~takyon/
  2. "NASA wants to buy SLS rockets at half price, fly them into the 2050s" - https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/nasa-wants-to-buy-sls-rockets-at-half-price-fly-them-into-the-2050s/
  3. "In its request" - https://sam.gov/opp/d20ca9e5714b4fa08b75b0a3612f38f9/view
  4. "Nelson said" - https://spacenews.com/nasa-commits-building-mandated-heavy-lift-rocket/
  5. "saying" - https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=a6e13jj87k7g0vrjd2vh5j3vdr;topic=22270.1300
  6. "Artemis Program Requires More Cash to Reach Moon by 2024; SLS Could Cost 1,000x More Than Starship" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/11/10/0346212
  7. "NASA OIG: Tell Congress that Moon Rocket is Over Budget and Behind Schedule" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/03/11/1455257
  8. "NASA Spent a Decade and Nearly $1 Billion for a Single Launch Tower" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/03/21/0034220
  9. "NASA Will Pay a Staggering $146 Million for Each SLS Rocket Engine" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/05/05/1436249
  10. "Charlie Bolden Says the Quiet Part Out Loud: SLS Rocket Will Go Away" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/09/12/0126255
  11. "NASA Lays out $28 Billion Plan to Return Astronauts to the Moon in 2024" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/09/23/0055234
  12. "NASA SLS Megarocket Shortage Causes Tug-of-war Between Moon Missions, Europa Exploration" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/10/26/2143208
  13. "SLS: Nasa 'Megarocket' Assembly Begins in Florida" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=20/11/29/2311256
  14. "NASA's Europa Clipper has been Liberated from the Space Launch System" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/01/11/2042217
  15. "After a Decade, NASA's Big Rocket Fails its First Real Test" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/01/17/1751204
  16. "NASA's Massive Artemis Moon Rocket Set for Second Hot Fire Test Today 1500 EDT (1900 UTC)" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/03/18/1259233
  17. "NASA Has Begun a Study of the SLS Rocket's Affordability [Updated]" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/03/22/018249
  18. "COVID-19 Pandemic Estimated to Cost NASA $3 Billion" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/04/07/040201
  19. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=52157

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