NASA Realizes SLS and Orion are Too Expensive, Opens Door to Industry

Mining & Minerals - Evaluations / Off-World Exploration, Mining, & Technology

Date posted: 11/26/16

Eric Berger reports that with a new President promising to review its human spaceflight activities, NASA has continued to signal a willingness to consider alternatives to its exploration systems, the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, and related ground systems developed at Kennedy Space Center to support their launch later this decade and in the 2020s. In its latest request for information (RFI), NASA seeks solutions from industry and academia to maximize the long term efficiency and sustainability of its of exploration systems programs. Essentially, NASA wants ideas on how best to cut the production and operations costs for its SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, which presently consume more than $3 billion annually in development costs. However, the RFI also offers respondents the opportunity to submit ideas about rockets and spacecraft that might compete with NASA own vehicles for exploration funds. Specifically, the document requests responses about competing exploration services in the mid-2020s timeframe and beyond if the market demonstrates such services are available, reliable, and consistent with NASA architectural needs. Ars understands this to mean that if private competitors such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance, or other companies produce less expensive rockets and spacecraft within the next five to seven years, NASA will consider using them in lieu of SLS and Orion. For example, both SpaceX and Blue Origin (with the Falcon Heavy and New Glenn boosters, respectively) are deep into development of heavy lift rockets in the same class as the SLS launcher. United Launch Alliance is also developing the Vulcan rocket with an upper stage being optimized for use in NASA proving ground between the Earth and Moon. These are all expected to cost significantly less to fly than the SLS. But yes, it is difficult to read too much into the document, which seems like a product of its times...Trumpian mania. Read on.