[meteorite-list] NASA Completes Key Review of World's Most Powerful Rocket in Support of Journey to Mars

[Ron Baalke]

August 27, 2014
     
NASA Completes Key Review of World's Most Powerful Rocket in Support of 
Journey to Mars

NASA officials Wednesday announced they have completed a rigorous review of 
the Space Launch System (SLS) -- the heavy-lift, exploration class rocket 
under development to take humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars -- and 
approved the program's progression from formulation to development, something 
no other exploration class vehicle has achieved since the agency built the 
space shuttle.

"We are on a journey of scientific and human exploration that leads to Mars," 
said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "And we're firmly committed to 
building the launch vehicle and other supporting systems that will take us on 
that journey."

For its first flight test, SLS will be configured for a 70-metric-ton 
(77-ton) lift capacity and carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond 
low-Earth orbit. In its most powerful configuration, SLS will provide an 
unprecedented lift capability of 130 metric tons (143 tons), which will 
enable missions even farther into our solar system, including such 
destinations as an asteroid and Mars.

This decision comes after a thorough review known as Key Decision Point C 
(KDP-C), which provides a development cost baseline for the 70-metric ton 
version of the SLS of $7.021 billion from February 2014 through the first 
launch and a launch readiness schedule based on an initial SLS flight no 
later than November 2018.

Conservative cost and schedule commitments outlined in the KDP-C align the 
SLS program with program management best practices that account for potential 
technical risks and budgetary uncertainty beyond the program's control.

"Our nation is embarked on an ambitious space exploration program, and we 
owe it to the American taxpayers to get it right," said Associate 
Administrator Robert Lightfoot, who oversaw the review process. "After 
rigorous review, we're committing today to a funding level and readiness 
date that will keep us on track to sending humans to Mars in the 2030s -
and we're going to stand behind that commitment."

"The Space Launch System Program has done exemplary work during the past 
three years to get us to this point," said William Gerstenmaier, associate 
administrator for the Human Explorations and Operations Mission Directorate 
at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We will keep the teams working toward a 
more ambitious readiness date, but will be ready no later than November 
2018."

The SLS, Orion, and Ground Systems Development and Operations programs each 
conduct a design review prior to each program's respective KDP-C, and each 
program will establish cost and schedule commitments that account for its 
individual technical requirements.

"We are keeping each part of the program -- the rocket, ground systems, and 
Orion -- moving at its best possible speed toward the first integrated test 
launch," said Bill Hill, director Exploration Systems Development at NASA. 
"We are on a solid path toward an integrated mission and making progress in 
all three programs every day."

"Engineers have made significant technical progress on the rocket and have 
produced hardware for all elements of the SLS program," said SLS program 
manager Todd May. "The team members deserve an enormous amount of credit 
for their dedication to building this national asset."

The program delivered in April the first piece of flight hardware for 
Orion's maiden flight, Exploration Flight Test-1 targeted for December. 
This stage adapter is of the same design that will be used on SLS's first 
flight, Exploration Mission-1.

Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans has all major tools installed and is 
producing hardware, including the first pieces of flight hardware for SLS. 
Sixteen RS-25 engines, enough for four flights, currently are in inventory at 
Stennis Space Center, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where an engine is 
already installed and ready for testing this fall. NASA contractor ATK has 
conducted successful test firings of the five-segment solid rocket boosters 
and is preparing for the first qualification motor test.

SLS will be the world's most capable rocket. In addition to opening new 
frontiers for explorers traveling aboard the Orion capsule, the SLS may also 
offer benefits for science missions that require its use and can't be flown 
on commercial rockets.

The next phase of development for SLS is the Critical Design Review, a 
programmatic gate that reaffirms the agency's confidence in the program 
planning and technical risk posture.

For more information about SLS, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/sls 

-end-

Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
stephanie.schierholz at nasa.gov