The Space Launch System, SLS is currently being developed by NASA as the biggest and most powerful rocket in history. Although this may be true, bigger and more powerful doesn’t necessarily mean better. The SLS is still missing the fundamental property that opens space to all: re-usability. In 2012, NASA made a goal to have each launch be $500 million. For the launch capability of the rocket, this is cheaper than the shuttle. However, it is still hopelessly expensive for the average person.
Lets take a look at the anatomy of this rocket. The main engines used on the core booster are 4 RS-25 engines. These are also known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine(SSME) because they were used on the shuttle. The first 4 launches will literally burn up the 16 remaining SSME’s in storage at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Even worse, Chris Bergin of nasaspaceflight.com writes that it has been”confirmed that there will be a transition to the expendable version of the SSME, known as the RS-25E”. It seems like the “E” stands for expendable
The entire SLS is contradictory to NASA’s beliefs. In 1969, NASA’s Space Task Group stated that the future of space needed “low-cost, flexible, long-lived, highly reliable, operational space systems with a high degree of commonality and reusability”. On the NASA website they also acknowledge that reusability is key to accessible space. Whats worse is that they claim that their RS-25 engine is the “Ferrari of rocket engines” by being powerful, efficient, and complex.
Yet with all these statements about reusability, NASA is still throwing away a rocket that is over 300 feet tall powered by best engines in the world. The SLS is anything but “long lived….with a high degree of commonality and reusablity” and is quite literally burning up your tax dollars. With the expansion of commercial space companies such as Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic all stressing the importance of reusablity, this may be the end of NASA as we know it. After all, if you had a choice of building one rocket and reusing it or building a new one after every launch, which one would you choose?
oh no rocket science! 