The Hill By Mark R. Whittington
NASA recently revealed long-term plans for the Space Launch System (SLS), the monster rocket it has been working on since about 2010. The SLS has cost many billions of dollars, and NASA proposes to launch for the first time in February 2022. NASA would like to commercialize the SLS, fly it once a year for the Artemis Program, and pay half price for the privilege. The space agency wants to do this for at least the next 30 years.
Meanwhile, a federal court has thrown out a lawsuit brought by Blue Origin against NASA and SpaceX over the award to Elon Musk’s company for the Human Landing System. Work on the SpaceX HLS, based on the Starship rocket now being developed at Boca Chica, can now proceed.
Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos was gracious in defeat on Twitter, noting it was “not the decision we wanted, but we respect the court’s judgment, and wish full success for NASA and SpaceX on the contract.”
Blue Origin will have another chance when the second-round competition for the HLS occurs. Congress will have to fund that round. With the Blue Origin lawsuit out of the way, NASA and SpaceX can now proceed with the Artemis return to the moon program.
More:
https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/581456-nasa-wants-to-fly-the-obsolete-space-launch-system-for-at-least-30-years
