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NASA SLS/Orion/Payloads


_Augustus_

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EDIT: Today is the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 touching down on the Moon.

I have been overly critical of SLS and I think most of y'all have been too. Please, before citing Eric Berger (who has almost zero credibility) and going on your ridiculous anti-SLS rants. SLS will probably fly in late 2020/early 2021 and while LOPG and Orion may or may not be ideal they're what we've got, and without funding for Starship I think the Artemis Program is a worthwhile, conservative approach to get back to the Moon.

Edited by _Augustus_
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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, _Augustus_ said:

If this is true, SLS will be mothballed.

It will already be scrapped after 2 or 3 missions. They only have the engines for 4 flights and the place that makes them was closed down so no more are coming.

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EM-1 won't be manned.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/05/nasa-em-1-uncrewed-costs-main-reason/

Additional delays thanks to the accident this week and the fact that apparently the LH2 tank was defective mean that it's unlikely that even 2019 is going to work - EM-1 will probably push into 2020.

I will not be surprised if Congress or POTUS cancels SLS after Elon flies his Moon mission.

 

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SLS will fly a couple times at least. past that, it's hard to say. They've spent a ton of money, and they never quit while they are ahead.

The marked difference in crew rating SLS vs COTS is pretty stunning. Crew on SLS after ONE launch, no crew on D2/F9 or CST-100/Atlas until 7 flights with a locked design configuration.

Edited by tater
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SLS/Orion has zero excess time in their schedule at this point, and while they are supposed to run at 20-30% in contingency funds, they spend every penny they get, they have zero money for problems. Seems like a single worker taking a sick day would actually impact program schedule, lol.

They're rapidly approaching a point where it is possible that BO will be flying a reusable booster capable of lofting a payload in a flush, 7m fairing (so they could easily bump it to SLS-diameter) before EM-2. Given their hopefully good relationship with ULA (supplying the engines for Vulcan), it seems like NG might be a reasonable LV for Orion, actually, along with perhaps even the SLS EUS (or a version of it).

Edited by tater
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49 minutes ago, tater said:

It seems like NG might be a reasonable LV for Orion, actually, along with perhaps even the SLS EUS (or a version of it).

Orion would work very well on New Glenn, but unless you flew it expendable you couldn't get it to EML2.

NG has its own 3rd stage that will probably be better than EUS.

Edited by _Augustus_
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Or they could use a centaur/ACES variant. Centaur is bulletproof, and NASA stuff intentionally spreads stuff out. SLS/Orion employs thousands of people in 44 States. Hence broad support...

 

 

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offtop

Spoiler

When I was a child, I everytime got confused looking at "Spaceship" attractions in amuzement parks.
Why do they call a strange tiny conical thing "a spaceship", when "spaceship" is a large sphere with a cylinder behind, where two spacemen are flying in zero-G.
Nobody could answer me, too, until years later I saw this strange thing in an encyclopaedia.

 

Edited by kerbiloid
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On 5/10/2017 at 2:34 PM, Frozen_Heart said:

It will already be scrapped after 2 or 3 missions. They only have the engines for 4 flights and the place that makes them was closed down so no more are coming.

I thought RS-25E or RS-25F were to be made as replacements for the RS-25.  They (Aeroject Rocketdyne) haven't even started manufacturing them.

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aww...I was looking forward to seeing the SLS launch before the 2020s, :(

I have always wanted to see a absolutely huge rocket take off, but all I can see now is the F9

not that its bad, but I want to see something like the Saturn V take off, without that really bad 1960s cameras

oh well... :/

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NASA is apparently looking into a Delta IV Heavy launch for Orion (launch abort test at max Q?).

Seems like a FH could be modified for the same task for less than the difference between 90 M$ and 375 M$ (D IVH).

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