The White House Office of Management and Budget has just released the estimated price of the SLS, in a letter addressing its views on the FY 2020 budget bill.

Amongst other things, it addresses the congressional mandate to launch the future ‘Europa Clipper’ on a Space Launch System rocket in the early 2020s. Europa Clipper itself is planned to be the next big NASA science mission, as it plans to explore a potentially life-bearing subsurface ocean on the Galilean moon Europa. This mandate requires NASA to launch Europa Clipper on the SLS, regardless of potentially cheaper options, such as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy or ULA’s Delta IV.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy has already launched three times. Photo credit: SpaceX

The letter states that by choosing another launch vehicle, as much as $1.5 billion could be saved at the cost of a longer trip to Jupiter – three years for SLS, six for the Falcon Heavy. This is a tremendous amount of money for little benefit, as $1.5 billion represents around 7% of NASA’s yearly budget.

Using the Space Launch System also presents problems besides cost, as one SLS can be built per year, and the requirements of the Artemis Program whose crew launches rely on SLS could make these rockets few and far between. Potential delays are also problematic, as the SLS has experienced constant schedule overruns, to the point where it’s 2018 launch date has been pushed back to 2021 at the earliest.

Adding urgency to the debate concerning Europa Clipper’s ride to space is the spacecraft’s impending design freeze, which makes a commitment to a specific launch vehicle urgently required. If this can’t be done in time, then Europa Clipper might have to be delayed a couple of years until a launch window opens.

The Europa Clipper perfectly describes the current problems facing the SLS: the $2 billion price tag of the SLS also makes it prohibitive and unsustainable to use. The Falcon Heavy can lift 2/3s of the SLS’ payload to Low Earth Orbit at a price of $150 million when expendable, so commercial or station use of the SLS is non-existent. Docking removes any benefit of the SLS’s larger payload capacity, with on-orbit refueling on the cusp of being realized.

The Falcon Heavy side boosters just before a successful landing, allowing for future reuse. Photo credit: SpaceX

The SLS is an outdated and expensive white elephant based on old technology and design principles. It costs too much, is non-reusable, cannot be flown by anyone, including NASA, and has experienced constant schedule and time overruns. Evidently, the White House will realize this, but much like the Space Shuttle or Joint Strike Fighter, the SLS perfectly fulfills the Military-Industrial Complex to make itself uncancellable. It employs too many jobs and subsidi z es too many companies, at the cost of the average American taxpayer and NASA’s aspirations.

As such, the white elephant that is the SLS must, and probably will, fly.

Featured image courtesy of NASA