He sls rocket is one of the key pieces for the success of the program Artemiswhich aims to put astronauts on the moon by 2025. But a new audit by NASA’s Office of the Inspector General reveals that its development is not only suffering from significant delays, but is also costing far more than had been budgeted for.
The audit mentions that NASA’s original projections have been far from being fulfilled, both in terms of time and budget. Thus, the works on the rocket accumulate more than 6 years of delays and have already cost about 6,000 million dollars more than planned.
The report reveals that, paradoxically, these problems originated from the measures taken to reduce the costs and development times of the SLS rocket and, therefore, of the entire Artemis programme. The main drawback identified by the auditors has been the use of old technology which has been inherited from the Space Shuttle and the Constellation Project.
From NASA they considered that it would be easier and cheaper to adapt elements of both programs —motorization, for example—, instead of developing the new launch system from scratch. But reality has shown that it was not as simple as believed.
“The complexity of developing, upgrading and integrating new systems alongside legacy components turned out to be much greater than anticipated, resulting in the completion of only 5 of 16 engines under the Retrofit contract and further range and cost increases to the Promoters contract”.
Audit of the NASA Office of the Inspector General.
The costs and delays of the SLS rocket of the Artemis program, a headache
NASA’s Office of Inspector General has put four contracts under scrutiny. Two have been awarded to Northrop Grumman and correspond to the SLS solid rocket boosters. While the remaining two belong to Aerojet Rocketdynewhich is in charge of adapting the already existing RS-25 engines —those of the Space Shuttle orbiter—, as well as producing new units.
As we already mentioned, experts believe that adapting old technology to the Artemis program is giving the opposite results to those projected. Not only have time and money not been saved, but the delays and overspending are hellish. But the story does not end there.
Auditors also discuss the use of contracts cost plus or at additional cost. These allow a company to be reimbursed for expenses incurred plus a specified amount of profit (usually a percentage of the total contract). According to the report, the ideal would have been to use fixed price contracts.
In fact, the document acknowledges that NASA is making efforts to move toward a fixed-price contract structure for Artemis. But the benefits would be seen in the very long term and would not help combat the huge delays and expenses that are currently occurring. Especially those related to engines and boosters of the SLS rocket.
bureaucratic shortcomings
The audit of the contracts for the SLS rocket for the Artemis missions has not only found delays and budget problems. has also detected bureaucratic shortcomings that represent obstacles to the program. For example, officials at the Marshall Space Flight Center who oversee ties to Northrop Grumman and Aerojet Rocketdyne are cited as having “inadequate and inexperienced staff and limited opportunities to review contract documentation.”
This has led to questioning millionaire payments that have been made to both contractors for fee readjustments. As well as giving performance grades that were better than they really should be.
In addition, the auditors believe that certain promises to reduce costs are not being correctly evaluated. Such is the case of the manufacture of new RS-25 engines, the production of which is said to be could be cheaper by 30% per engine. However, the report indicates that NASA is calculating that reduction based on what it cost to produce them in the Space Shuttle era, and that the alleged savings are being limited to specific components and manufacturing. But other overhead costs, such as recertification, are not being accounted for. Thus, some 2.3 billion dollars in costs and fees have been identified that are not being included in the calculations of the SLS rocket and the Artemis program.
Is the Artemis program in danger?
The publication of this audit does not imply that Artemis missions are at risk in the immediate future. However, it is a warning to NASA about the complications that may arise in the future if crucial issues such as respect for the established times and the designated budget are not addressed.
And the Office of the Inspector General of the US agency has not missed the opportunity to point out that it is not the first time that it has expressed concern about this type of problem:
“Long-standing challenges that we have reported on for the better part of a decade continue to hamper NASA’s ability to monitor and ensure that its contractors meet agency cost and schedule targets, often exceeding initial projections. for billions of dollars and adding years of delay.”
Yes indeed, the audit is already generating sparks within NASA itself. At the end of the report, it is indicated that some areas of the agency have been in disagreement with it. Specifically, the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate and the Acquisitions administration. An unsatisfactory official response for the Office of the Inspector General, because, according to their vision, they have not specified what they disagree with.
We’ll see how the situation progresses, but clearly Artemis is not without controversy. It is estimated that between fiscal years 2012 and 2025, 93,000 million dollars will have been allocated to this program. Up to and including 2022, almost $24 billion had already been invested for the SLS rocket alone. At the end of last year, NASA was able to complete the launch of Artemis I, with the Orion spacecraft. While, at the beginning of April, the crew of Artemis II was announced, which will return to orbit the Moon after more than 50 years.