- NASA has announced a change in its “baseline price” for SLS rockets, stating that it will cost 30% or more to prepare the rocket for its entry in late 2021.
- The SLS program has now surpassed delays and costs for many years.
- The provisional first launch date for SLS is November 2021.
So, NASA just announced that it will launch its new SLS. The rocket will transmit static fire test. That was good news because the project has been running out of delays and costs for some time now. Then, at the signal, the space agency also posted a brief update to its Artemis program, of which SLS is a major part. More good news? Quite.
Like Ars Technica First noticed, NASA talked a bit about the overall cost of this whole project in this latest update. As you might expect, the project has not been cheap. Instead, it will now be 30% more expensive than previously planned. Hooray!
Here is what NASA entered in the blog post:
Considering the date of preparation for this new launch, NASA also adjusted the development costs of SLS and Exploration Ground Systems by Artemis I and established new pricing commitments. The new development base cost for SLS is 9.1 billion, and the commitment to capacity of early ground systems to support the mission is now $ 2.4 billion.
Overall, this is about a third of the recent estimated program cost growth that was achieved in 2017. Simply put, this whole effort just keeps getting more and more expensive, and that’s all we’re seeing in return for funding. There is more delay.
Now, approved, the coronavirus epidemic is raging on NASA, and the space agency gave the epidemic the reason why progress on SLS has slowed this year. However, this is hardly the first time that an update to the Space Launch system program has included both a dramatic increase in costs and significant delays. Unfortunately it is becoming normal.
Still, NASA seems incredibly excited about the whole thing, at least for the masses. “NASA has informed Congress of these new commitments, and we are working on the best progress, including evaluating opportunities to streamline operational flow at Kennedy and further improve the efficiency of our integration activities,” the update reads. “Now that most of the design development has taken place, as well as the first-time build and extensive testing program, we have a lot of effort behind us.”
“We are still more than a year away from the first launch of the SLS rocket, and there will be no further delays,” he said. If the SLS program has taught us for years, it should be delayed, well, as expected.
Mike Wehner reports on VR, wearable, smartphone and future opportunity trends on technology and video games over the past decade. Most recently, Mike served as a tech editor at the Daily Dot, and has been featured in USA Today, Time.com, and numerous other web and print outlets. His love of reporting is second only to his game addiction.
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