NASA's SLS Rocket Will be Pushed Back to 2019
NASA's flagship Space Launch System (SLS), a next-generation rocket that could potentially take humans to Mars or back to the Moon, looks to be delayed until at least 2019. A critical report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued in March and made public on Thursday has found many issues with the rocket's development, with a senior NASA official recommending the launch be pushed back.
"We agree with the GAO that maintaining a November 2018 launch readiness date is not in the best interest of the program, and we are in the process of establishing a new target in 2019," writes NASA administrator William Gerstenmaier in a statement.
This is yet another setback for the SLS program, which was started in 2010 and has already been delayed from 2016, its original scheduled launch date. Among the problems noted in the GAO report are structural weaknesses in the rocket's core stage, delays on the Orion capsule's European Service Module, and additional complexities arising from integrating multiple independent components. Both the GAO and NASA agree that these challenges make a 2018 launch date nearly impossible.
This announcement comes on the heels of the release of the White House's plan for NASA, which includes goals like a crewed SLS launch before 2020. This delay means there is a narrower window available to meet that goal, and it may require the maiden launch of the SLS to be a crewed mission-something President Trump's NASA is already considering.
Source: Ars Technica
You Might Also Like
