An audit by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has determined that NASA does not have the financial resources necessary to launch their new Space Launch System (SLS) by 2017. The GAO estimates the space agency is facing a $400 million gap to meet a launch deadline of December 2017, mandated by Congress.
The space agency is counting on the SLS to provide a means of transportation to Earth orbit and beyond. Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle program in the summer of 2011, Americans have been without a means to bring humans to space, except through other nations, notably Russia.
The Space Launch System is estimated to cost around $12 billion to bring to fruition. When completed, it will be the most powerful rocket ever constructed, delivering 8.4 million pounds of thrust at launch. This is eight percent higher than the Space Shuttle, and 12 percent more powerful than the Saturn 5 rocket that brought humans to the Moon.
NASA plans to ferry people to an asteroid in orbit around the Moon and to Mars would be severely hampered if the SLS is not available.
The GAO did not find fault with the technical design of the SLS booster, or the Orion Space capsule it will lift into the final frontier. They did suggest that the space agency develop "an executable business case based on matching the program's cost" to the mandated schedule.
"The SLS program has not yet defined specific mission requirements beyond the second flight test in 2021 or defined specific plans for achieving long-term goals, but the program has opportunities to promote affordability moving forward," the report stated.
The space agency currently the vehicle as time goes on, and new technologies and challenges become apparent. The GAO stated this idea could affect the cost and long-term goals of the program going forward.
Ginger Barnes, vice president and program manager for the SLS program at Boeing, told reporters her company was five months ahead of schedule for the core stage of the SLS booster. That report was made in May 2014.
"Plans are in place to adjust schedule and minimize costs within the agency commitment if either funding levels decrease or technical problems arise," William Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator, told the press.
The GAO determined the space agency should accept bids from companies other than Boeing for future development of the space vehicle.
With full development of the SLS, the federal space agency is planning to launch humans to Mars sometime during the 2030's. That mission could be pushed back if the SLS is not complete, and tested, by that time.
