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NASA 'Will Eventually' Retire Its New Mega-Rocket if SpaceX, Blue Origin Can Safely Launch Their Own Powerful Rockets (businessinsider.com)
NASA is building a giant rocket ship to return astronauts to the moon and, later on, ferry the first crews to and from Mars. But agency leaders are already contemplating the retirement of the Space Launch System (SLS), as the towering and yet-to-fly government rocket is called, and the Orion space capsule that'll ride on top. From a report: NASA is anticipating the emergence of two reusable and presumably more affordable mega-rockets that private aerospace companies are creating. Those systems are the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), which is being built by Elon Musk's SpaceX; and the New Glenn, a launcher being built by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. "I think our view is that if those commercial capabilities come online, we will eventually retire the government system, and just move to a buying launch capacity on those [rockets]," Stephen Jurczyk, NASA's associate administrator, told Business Insider at The Economist Space Summit on November 1. However, NASA may soon find itself in a strange position, since at least one of the two company's systems may beat SLS back to the moon -- and possibly be the first to reach Mars.
NASA should reallocate the billions of dollars which are being spent on a launch system which nobody expects to be useful or affordable and instead use those billions to put out RFPs for milestone missions that will further incentivize those private industry projects to get off the ground. NASA clearly cannot afford to just blow money on SLS and also pay to perform the space missions that would be required to do useful things in space.
NASA should be moving the ball forward, not reinventing the wheel for every mission.
Everyone involved with the SLS project have shown nothing but sheer incompetence. The "shuttle-derived launcher" concept dates back to the 80s. Shuttle-C in '87, NLS in '91, Constellation in '05, Jupiter in '08, and finally SLS in '10. They're cobbling together existing engines (literally raiding the Shuttle parts bin), existing boosters (from a Shuttle upgrade that was designed and built but never flew), scaled-up tanks, and an off-the-shelf upper stage. The only really new thing is the Orion capsule, which is somehow the component closest to being flight-ready.
SLS is never going to fly more than once. They might do a single test flight just to "prove" the money wasn't wasted, but no, the money was wasted. They're still a year and a half out from their uncrewed first test, and I all but guarantee it will be delayed.
BFR design started in 2012. Brand-new engines, using a fairly novel propellant (methalox) and cycle (full-flow staged combustion). They started testing them in 2016. "Hop" tests of the upper stage are supposed to start next year, with the scheduled first flight in 2020, and first crewed flight in 2023. That schedule will probably slip as well (this *is* SpaceX), but at this point it's a question of who's going to slip more: the people who went from an overgrown hobby rocket to the biggest launch company on the planet in a decade, or the ones who've spent thirty years talking about taking Shuttle parts and building a normal rocket with them?
Given the fact that the Private Sector is doing so well developing these systems, NASA should step back and be setting standards for such critical systems such as Life Support, Power, Communications, Docking facilities, etc.
How the private companies get people and stuff to space can be left up to them. But once it's up there, these things must be interchangeable between vendors for routine and emergency situations.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.