Greg Newton/AFP/AFP via Getty Images
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 3, 2022, ahead of the launch of last year’s successful unmanned test mission, the Artemis I mission.
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According to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, senior NASA officials said NASA’s Space Launch System, designed to advance the ambitious Artemis program to build a base on the moon. “I can’t touch” giant rockets, he said.
This report breaks down SLS program spending and reveals some surprising things: Admission fee NASA officials say they view the rocket as unsustainable “at current cost levels,” and criticize the GAO for saying it lacks transparency about the ongoing costs of the project. . The report does not say who or how many people at NASA made the claims.
A spokesperson for NASA Headquarters did not respond to a request for comment.
However, the GAO report states that NASA “recognizes the need to improve affordability.”
“With input from NASA management, the SLS program has developed a roadmap outlining short- and long-term strategies that are expected to lead to future cost savings,” the report said.
GAO said the plan includes efforts to “stabilize flight schedules,” improve efficiencies, “promote innovation,” and “adjust acquisition strategies to mitigate cost risks.”
The SLS rocket is the core of NASA’s Artemis program, NASA’s flagship project to return humans to the moon later this decade, and includes various exploration and science missions aimed at establishing a lunar settlement. Masu.
SLS’s first test launch was a mission called Artemis I. took off on November 16th After years of delays. Despite being behind schedule, the mission was so successful that NASA plans to launch its first manned lunar test mission in late 2024. It will be followed by Artemis III, the first attempt to return American astronauts to the moon. Since the Apollo program.
However, the success of Artemis I did not insulate NASA from criticism of the program.
Government oversight agencies, including the GAO and NASA’s inspector general, have repeatedly denounced the space agency’s SLS program in reports dating back to 2014, as the GAO details in its latest document. GAO is a U.S. government research agency tasked with overseeing public spending.
Much of the criticism by these oversight bodies has focused on contractual issues, such as cost overruns with prime contractors for SLS programs. The watchdog also reported transparency issues, arguing that NASA has not provided a full cost estimate for the planned Artemis launch, nor has it made sufficient attempts to break down the ongoing costs of the program. There is.
The GAO report also stated in 2014 that NASA for missions using the SLS Block I, the first version of the rocket expected to pave the way for larger rockets, had a “cost baseline to capture production costs”. He also mentioned that he proposed that the government should develop a , a more powerful version of the development pipeline. But while NASA “partially agreed,” the GAO report said, “this recommendation has not yet been implemented.”
The space agency “has no plans to measure production costs to monitor the affordability of the most powerful rockets,” according to the report.
In addition to the nearly $12 billion already spent developing the SLS rocket, NASA is seeking more than $11 billion in its latest budget request to fund the program over the next four years, according to the report. It is said that he did.