Disaster! NASA SLS Is FAILURE…
===
#alphatech
#techalpha
#spacex
#elonmusk
#nasa
===
Disaster! NASA SLS Is FAILURE…
While SpaceX recently celebrated a major milestone with the successful catch of the Starship booster, marking a significant step toward fully reusable rockets, the contrast couldn't be starker for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS). Once seen as the flagship project to return humans to the Moon through the Artemis mission, the SLS has instead become mired in controversy and heavy criticism.
This raises a big question for NASA: What is the most suitable solution for this faltering program?
Continue, cancel, or replace with a better option like SpaceX's Starship, where will be the answer for NASA?
Let’s find out on today’s episode of Alpha Tech.
Disaster! NASA SLS Is FAILURE…
Up until now, I’ve lost count of how many articles or comments I’ve read calling for NASA’s SLS program to be canceled since the start of 2024, while this should have been a period dominated by news about lunar rocket testing in preparation for the Artemis II mission in 2025.
However, reality tends to be harsh, often leaving us stunned. All reactions from the space community, including experts, reveal that NASA’s SLS is losing a lot of time and taxpayer money without yielding any significant results. The Inspector General of NASA has estimated that the program has burned through $23.8 billion so far. Each launch is expected to cost at least $4 billion—four times the initial estimate. This figure far exceeds the costs in the private sector, but it can only launch about once every two years and—unlike SpaceX rockets—cannot be reused.
Disaster! NASA SLS Is FAILURE…
Everyone seems frustrated with this rocket. Beyond space enthusiasts like us, even some government agencies are turning their backs on the SLS. The Department of Defense, which collaborated with the Space Shuttle in the 1970s to gather enough funding to complete its development (leading to a series of design compromises that severely reduced its safety and utility), now sees no value in repeating that process with the SLS. In an interview, Colonel Douglas Pentecost, a senior officer in charge of missile procurement for the U.S. Space Force, said: “It’s a capability right now that we, the DoD, don’t need…We have the capability that we need at the affordability price that we have, so we’re not that interested in some partnership with NASA on the SLS system.”
===
Subcribe Alpha Tech: [ Ссылка ]
===

свернуть