NASA's construction cost of mobile launcher for SLS rocket could inflate to $1.5B: Report

The building cost of a second mobile launcher (ML-2) to launch the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket during the Artemis programme could inflate to $1.5 billion, warned a new audit report from the NASA Office of Inspector General. Submitted earlier this week, the report says that this amount is 2.5 times higher than what was initially planned for the ML-2. The mobile launcher is basically a launch tower that will support the fuelling and liftoff of the rocket to be used during Artemis IV and beyond. 

NASA says that the first mobile tower, which was completed in 2010 for the now-canceled Constellation Programme’s Ares I rocket launch, has been made compatible with the SLS rocket for missions up to Artemis III. In 2019, NASA had awarded a $383 million contract to Bechtel National Inc. for developing a second ML for the following missions.

(A mobile launcher; Image: NASA)

NASA's Inspector General warns of inflating costs, significant delays

In the newly produced report, Inspector General Paul Martin revealed that in March this year NASA obligated an additional $435.6 million of Bechtel’s current $460.3 million contract value and extended the contract’s performance period by 10 months. However, the design work of the ML-2 still has not begun and the construction is not expected to commence until the first quarter of the fiscal year 2023. According to Bechtel's estimates, it would require an additional $577.1 million, bringing the structure’s total projected cost to $960.1 million and the delivery date will be pushed from March 2023 to October 2025.

"In fact, an Independent Review Team analysis determined the project would require an additional $447 million and 27 months, for a total contract value of $1.5 billion and a launcher delivery date of December 2027—a schedule that would enable an Artemis IV launch no earlier than the end of 2028", the report further stated. Notably, this is not the first time when warning alarms of the ballooning budget of the Artemis programme were sounded.

In early March, similar documents were released that warned that each of the launches under the programme could cost eight times higher than expected. Surprisingly, Martin estimated that the first four Artemis missions would cost around $4 billion, up from $500 million.