After Spending Billions of Dollars on SLS, NASA Admits Its Moon Rocket Is ‘Unaffordable’

NASA has come under high temperature for the increasing price of its Space Launch System ( SLS ) skyrocket , which space agency functionary have finally admitted to being unsustainable and unaffordable , a new report reveal .

The Government Accountability Office ( GAO ) released areporton Thursday that heavily criticized NASA for its want of transparency regarding the true monetary value of the SLS program , which has already gone$6 billion over budget .

The SLS rocketlaunchedon November 16 , 2022 for the Artemis 1 mission , send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon and back . The 5.75 - million - pound Eruca sativa is essential to NASA ’s Moon course of study , with plans to launch Artemis 2 in tardy 2024 follow by the first crew landing on the lunar surface as early as 2025 and another one tentatively set for 2028 .

A full Moon shines in the background as the SLS rocket stands tall atop Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 14, 2022.

A full Moon shines in the background as the SLS rocket stands tall atop Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 6 January 2025.Photo: NASA

“ NASA does not plan to measure production costs to supervise the affordability of its most hefty projectile , SLS , ” GAO ’s reputation read . “ After SLS ’ first launch … NASA plans to spend jillion of dollar to continue producing multiple SLS components . ” Those portion include center stages and RS-25 engines currently being built by Aerojet Rocketdyne . Each rocket launch requires four railway locomotive and two relay transmitter ; one RS-25 railway locomotive currently costs around $ 100 million to construct .

In 2014 , GAO had advocate that NASA give cost and schedule baselines for the Artemis plan . Instead , the quad office “ create a rolling 5 - year estimate of output and operations costs to ensure that the costs jibe within NASA ’s overall budget , ” GAO save in its report . That initial estimate , however , does not reflect the cost of the SLS program over time . As a event , ongoing yield and other costs that followed the launching of Artemis 1 are not monitored .

NASA ’s massive Moon arugula has been a budgeting nightmare . The projected cost of each SLS skyrocket has exit over budget by $ 144 million through Artemis 4 , increase the overall cost of a single Artemis launch to at least $ 4.2 billion , according to areportreleased in May by the office of NASA ’s inspector general .

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NASA officials that mouth to GAO acknowledged that at current price levels , the SLS syllabus is “ unaffordable , ” and “ unsustainable and surmount what NASA official believe will be uncommitted for its Artemis missions . ”

In an travail to decrease the cost of the SLS program over sentence , the space agency is crop to go through these strategies : stabilizing the flight agenda , achieving learn bend efficiency , encouraging origination , and adjusting acquisition strategies to cut back cost hazard .

The written report shows scepticism over NASA ’s secret plan plan moving forwards . “ NASA , however , has not yet name specific program - level cost preservation goals which it hope to achieve , ” GAO wrote in its report . “ NASA has made some advancement toward implement these strategy , but it is too early to fully valuate their outcome on cost . ”

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NASA is also regard other options , like manoeuvre SLS under a launch service example whereby the space agency would purchase next launch and payload capability from a contractile organ who would own , control , and integrate the rocket , consort to the theme .

There is a portion riding on the SLS rocket and NASA ’s planned coming back to the Moon , therefore the place federal agency is highly motivated to make it figure out . The future of its launching vehicle , however , might need to take a different flight in club to still be able to deliver the Orion condensation on its way to the Moon .

Want to know more about human beings ’s next jumbo leap in space ? stop out our full coverage ofNASA ’s Artemis Moon plan , the newSpace Launch System ( SLS ) rocket and Orion space vehicle , therecently resolve Artemis 1 missionaround the Moon , thefour - individual Artemis 2 bunch , NASA and Axiom ’s Artemis Moon suit , and the upcominglunar Gateway space post . And for more spaceflight in your liveliness , follow us onX(formerly Twitter ) and bookmark Gizmodo ’s dedicatedSpaceflight Sir Frederick Handley Page .

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