this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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NASA finally admits what everyone already knows: SLS is unaffordable::"At current cost levels the SLS program is unsustainable."

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Was Saturn V affordable?

Because maybe the question isn’t whether it’s affordable but whether we are budgeting enough money.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Maybe if we gave a little less to SpaceX, NASA could afford to do more.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Can I ask: do you actually believe NASA builds their own rockets themselves? Like out back in their shed with a table saw and pliers?

The prime contractor on the sls is boeing.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Boeing used to be a good engineering firm.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yes, up until mid 90s

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

As certified by Boeing?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If NASA cancelled every single contact they had with SpaceX... they might be able to afford 1/3rd of an SLS launch. Or maybe not, because then they'd have to start paying Russians for rides up to the ISS.

SpaceX is saving NASA boatloads of money. Which Congress is forcing them to waste on SLS.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

SpaceX is getting 2-3 bn dollars for Starship HLS development, most of the funding is coming from SpaceX itself. SLS costs up to 4 bn per flight. I'm not even going to mention the insane cost-overruns and years of delays associated with NASA's cost-plus contract with Boeing to build the damn thing.

SLS is a sunk cost fallacy and jobs program.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Even then, commercial launch providers get much further with less money. Sure, if NASA had more budget, they could afford the SLS program. But the commercial launch providers show that they could be more efficient with the money they do have.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

That would destroy US space capabilities. Just because Elon is a racist dipshit doesn’t mean we should stop building the best rockets in the world.

Honestly if we have less money to Boeing and more to spacex, NASA would be way better off.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Even considering that, the SLS is poor value for money. It’s basically a dumber space shuttle that you throw away. It’s a parody of 1970s technology.

We can, and should, do better for that price tag.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

No, and that's why we don't launch then anymore.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

There was no alternative to what Saturn V did at the time. The SLS program is clearly going about things in a very expensive way and we have private alternatives that may be sufficient at a fraction of the price

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That was my immediate thought, it's space exploration, it's meant to cost more than is reasonable or affordable, because monetary rationale has never been a factor in it. Even if it did pay out in the long run with inventions and discoveries in the past, it's never going to make budget sense because exploration and pushing our specie's boundaries shouldn't be. It's a miracle what space agencies are/were able to accomplish with super strict budgets in the past, but in the end there's only so much you can do by cutting corners and letting the private sector fill the gaps

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

but the SLS isn't pushing boundaries. It's just reusing leftover space shuttle parts and isn't meant to do much more than what Atlas V managed. And still somehow costs billions per launch.