Over budget, behind schedule: NASA's SLS megarocket faces congressional review

[Elderberry]

Space.com by  Elizabeth Howell 3/17/2020

NASA's forthcoming moon-rocket program is so costly that the agency will need to let Congress know of budgetary overruns while reviewing the program, NASA's inspector general said in a March 10 report.

The inspector general examined the Space Launch System (SLS) — the rocket that NASA hopes to start sending on test flights starting in 2021 — as well as the rocket's program costs and contracts, to see how the rocket's development was proceeding.

The actual development cost of the SLS program has soared to at least 33% beyond its original, Congress-approved agency baseline commitment (ABC) of $7 billion, which doesn't include $2.7 billion of formulation costs, the report concludes. (The figures are based on fiscal 2019 numbers.)

More: https://www.space.com/nasa-sls-megarocket-cost-schedule-oig-report-2020.html

[Elderberry]

NASA's monster Space Launch System still costs too much and is taking too long

The Hill by Mark R. Whittington 3/17/2020

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/487781-nasas-monster-space-launch-system-still-costs-too-much-and-is-taking-too

NASA’s Office of Inspector General has some grim news about the Space Launch System, the monster, heavy-lift rocket that the space agency hopes will take astronauts back to the moon by 2024. Costs continue to skyrocket, and the schedule continues to slip farther into the future.

The report found that the cost of the Space Launch System had exceeded the congressionally mandated baseline by 33 percent by November 2019. The cost will exceed the baseline by 43 percent or more if the launch date of Artemis 1 is pushed back beyond November 2020. Since the launch of the Artemis 1 is now scheduled for some time in 2021, the Space Launch System is becoming a bigger problem than before.

The NASA OIG report has several recommendations, which start with the space agency going to Congress and begging for mercy. No reason exists for Congress not to grant the extra money. The SLS has been a congressionally mandated project ever since 2010, shortly after President Barack Obama summarily cancelled the Bush 43-era Constellation Project, causing a rift between the White House and Congress over space policy.

More at link.