NASA signs deals to put a rocket under Artemis flights until 2029
- Reference: 1588579025
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/04/nasa_sls_artemis_engine_orders/
- Source link:
The space agency said on Saturday it will plunge $1.79bn into a new order of 18 RS-25 engines from Aerojet Rocketdyne. The engine, which was originally developed for the Space Shuttle Program, will provide some of the thrust power to the SLS, the primary launch vehicle NASA’s deep space exploration plans. This includes the Artemis program, which hopes to put "the first woman and the second man" on the Moon by 2024.
"This contract allows NASA to work with Aerojet Rocketdyne to build the rocket engines needed for future missions," said John Honeycutt, the SLS program manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
"The same reliable engines that launched more than 100 space shuttle missions have been modified to be even more powerful to launch the next astronauts who will set foot on the lunar surface during the Artemis missions."
The new contract comes weeks after an audit criticised the space agency for long running delays and overrunning costs on the SLS Program. In the audit, the NASA Office of Inspector General said that the space agency had [1]spent $17bn on the program , at least 30 per cent more than its Agency Baseline Commitments by the end of fiscal 2019.
The SLS has been troubled for some time now. Bean counters in Washington have put the [2]cost of the system at $2bn per launch . What's more, the system's single-use hardware contrasts poorly with re-usable kit from rival systems from Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX.
NASA has contracted with three companies to develop the major elements of the SLS. Boeing will develop the core and upper stage; Aerojet Rocketdyne will make the engines; and Northrop Grumman will develop the solid rocket boosters.
With the new agreement, NASA has committed $3.5bn to engines for up to six SLS flights, giving the program wings until 2029. Aerojet won its original $1.16 billion contract in 2015 to upgrade 16 existing RS-25 engines left over from the Space Shuttle Program which would be used to power the first four Artemis missions. The contract was expanded to include six new RS-25 engines, which will begin delivery in 2023.
The SLS booster was slated to make its first top-to-bottom flight during the second half of 2021. But that date is likely to be delayed after its John C Stennis Space Centre in Mississippi was cleared out following an [3]employee testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month. ®
Sponsored: [4]Legacy Modernization: Finding Your Way With Low-Code
[1] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/11/nasa_space_launch_system_audit/
[2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/shelby-mega-approps-10-23-19.pdf
[3] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/24/nasa_james_webb_delay_coronavirus/
[4] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8553/legacy-modernization-finding-your-way-with-low-code?td=wptl1936
Yes - a modified design is, by definition, not the same design.
Hence the requirement to freeze the F9 Block 5 design for human flight.
But it does inherit a significant amount of the testing of previous versions, and remember that the engines went through several iterations during the shuttle programme.
They
seem to be sticking with the tried and tested pork barrel reliable partners. The whole stack seems to be made out of the leftovers of the 70's space race spares bucket.
Re: They
Gotta ride that leftovers gravy train! Making new stuff really gets in the way of profit.
Re: They
But that's why it's so much cheaper than developing everything from scratch would be!
Alledgedly
Re: They ...
... seem to be obeying the law.
The law requires NASA to 'pick' Space Shuttle contractors where practicable . That is the exact word of the law. Being impractical is not an excuse to use another contractor. If it is possible to work with AJR engines then NASA has to make that happen - no matter what the consequences. The consequences are ARJ picking the biggest number they can get congress to pay. Congress really wants to pay so each critter can crow about how much federal expenditure he got for his state.
Bridenstein has actually squeezed a hint of sanity into NASA's plans. The Orion capsule is approximately ready but the only thing that can lift it is SLS (by design and by law). SLS+Orion cannot get to low lunar orbit so there is a threat of LOP-G orbiting a point between the Earth and the Moon (Near rectilinear HALO orbit). NASA needs a ride from NRHO to the moon and back, which is precisely what they have asked for (not from LOP-G to the Moon and back). This means Artemis can continue even if when LOP-G gets delayed.
LOP-G components can launch on commercial rockets. The transfer module, decent vehicle and ascent vehicle can all launch on commercial rockets. Because of the schedule and the limited supply of SLS launches (one per year) these things have to fly on commercial rockets because SLS will be busy launching Orions. Bridenstein has effectively limited SLS to launching only the missions that congress has required by law to launch on SLS. (Europa Clipper is supposed to go by SLS too, but it has to launch soon and Artemis has eaten all the available SLS's before the deadline.)
Perhaps AJR's enormous bill will be big enough to satisfy congress to they won't tie NASA hands even more tightly.
"the first woman and the second man"
13th man, surely?
That was my first thought as well....
Do they realize that Buzz Aldrin will be 94 in 2024? Is he really still going to be up for this?
Or have they just let slip that all but one of the moon landings were fake after all?
Also reminded me of Bing Gordyn: https://youtu.be/7qeIUaer7ts
Artemis?
What are they hunting for?
Also, I know that this is rocket science but weren't the Space Shuttle engines very complicated and hard to maintain?
Re: Artemis?
For re-use, they were all rebuilt and refurbished after every shuttle mission.
One one in-flight incident in 405 burns across 46 engines, an engine shut down in the ascent due to sensor failures.
"The same reliable engines that launched more than 100 space shuttle missions have been modified to be even more powerful to launch the next astronauts who will set foot on the lunar surface during the Artemis missions."
I hope this is simply an oversimplification. Surely we all know that if you take a reliable engine and modify it to create more power, the reliability of said engine take a natural hit?
But then I'm not a rocket scientist.