He ssl rocket is one of the key elements for the success of the program Artemiswhose goal is to send astronauts to the moon by 2025. But a new audit by NASA’s Office of the Inspector General shows that its development not only suffers from significant delays, but is also costing far more than was budgeted.
The audit mentions that NASA’s initial projections are far from being met, both in terms of time and budget. So, work on the rocket accumulate more than 6 years of delinquency and have already cost approximately $6,000 million more than planned.
The report shows that, paradoxically, these problems arose from measures taken to reduce the cost and development time of the SLS rocket, and therefore the entire Artemis program. The main weakness identified by the auditors is use of old technologies which was inherited from the Space Shuttle and the Constellation project.
NASA figured it would be easier and cheaper to adapt elements of both programs—such as motorization—rather than developing a new launch system from scratch. But reality showed that everything was not as simple as it was thought.
“The complexity of developing, upgrading and integrating new systems with legacy components proved to be much greater than anticipated, resulting in the completion of only 5 out of 16 engines under the upgrade contract and a further increase in range and value under the promoter contract.”
Audit of NASA’s Office of the Inspector General.
Costs and delays of the Artemis SLS rocket, a headache
NASA’s Office of the Inspector General reviewed four contracts. Two have been awarded Northrop Grumman and correspond to SLS solid propellant boosters. While the remaining two belong Aerojet Rocketdynewhich is responsible for the adaptation of existing RS-25 engines – the engines of the Space Shuttle orbiter – as well as for the production of new units.
As we have already mentioned, experts believe that the adaptation of old technologies to the Artemis program is producing results that are opposite to those predicted. Not only is time and money not saved, but delays and cost overruns are hellish. But the story doesn’t end there.
The auditors also discuss the use of contracts cost plus or for an additional fee. They allow the company to recover the costs incurred plus a certain amount of profit (usually a percentage of the total contract amount). According to the report, fixed price contracts would be ideal.
In fact, the paper acknowledges that NASA is making efforts to move to a fixed price contract structure for Artemis. But the benefits will be seen in the very long term and will not help fight the huge delays and costs that are currently occurring. Especially those related to engines and boosters SLS missiles.
bureaucratic shortcomings
A review of contracts for SLS missiles for Artemis missions revealed more than just delays and budget issues. also discovered bureaucratic shortcomings that constitute barriers to the program. For example, officials of the Space Flight Center named after Marshall, who oversee communications with Northrop Grumman and Aerojet Rocketdyne, are cited as having “inadequate and inexperienced staff and limited ability to review contract documents.”
This led to questioning of the millionaire payments that were made to both contractors to adjust the remuneration. As well as giving performance ratings that were better than they should be.
In addition, the auditors believe that some cost reduction promises are not properly valued. This is the case with the production of the new RS-25 engines, the production of which is said to can be cheaper by 30% per engine. However, the report indicates that NASA calculates this reduction based on the cost of their production in the space shuttle era, and that the estimated savings are limited to specific components and manufacturing. But other overheads such as re-certification are not taken into account. Thus, about $ 2.3 billion of costs and fees are revealed, which are not taken into account in the calculations of the SLS rocket and the Artemis program.
Is the Artemis program in danger?
Publication of this audit does not mean Artemis missions are at risk in the near future. However, this is NASA’s warning of future complications if critical issues such as meeting deadlines and budgets are not addressed.
And the U.S. agency’s Office of the Inspector General took the opportunity to point out that this isn’t the first time they’ve raised concerns about this sort of problem:
“Long-standing issues that we have been reporting for the better part of a decade continue to hamper NASA’s ability to monitor and ensure its contractors meet the agency’s cost and schedule goals, often exceeding initial projections by billions of dollars and adding years of delay. .”
Yes indeed the check is already sparking sparks within NASA itself. At the end of the report, it is indicated that some parts of the agency did not agree with him. In particular, the Office of the Mission for the Development of Research Systems and the Office of Procurement. An unsatisfactory official response for the Office of the Inspector General because, according to their vision, they did not specify what they disagreed with.
We’ll see how the situation develops, but it’s clear that Artemis is not without controversy. It is anticipated that between fiscal year 2012 and 2025 $93 billion will be allocated for this program.. Until 2022, almost $24 billion has been invested in the SLS rocket alone. Late last year, NASA managed to complete the launch of Artemis I using the Orion spacecraft. At the same time, in early April, the crew of Artemis II was announced, which will return to the orbit of the Moon after more than 50 years.
Source: Hiper Textual
