13 years and $500M for a stage adapter? Report justifies NASA cancellations
A NASA analysis found that two recently canceled exploration programs, including the SLS Exploration Upper Stage and a mobile launcher upgrade, were years behind schedule and billions over budget. The report highlighted that a stage adapter alone cost $500 million and took 13 years to develop, supporting the agency's decision to terminate the projects.
Background
- NASA recently cancelled several major exploration programs (part of the Artemis campaign to return humans to the Moon). This Ars Technica article analyzes a NASA Inspector General report that validates those cancellations.
- The report found the programs — including a "Lunar Terrain Vehicle" rover, a crewed pressurized rover, a Moon surface habitat, and a critical "stage adapter" connecting the SLS rocket's upper stage to its payload — were years behind schedule and hundreds of millions over budget.
- The stage adapter alone was 13 years late and cost $500M (a piece of metal and wiring whose job is simply to hold the Orion spacecraft atop the rocket).
- The article uses these findings to argue NASA's traditional cost-plus contracting model (where contractors are paid for costs plus a fee, creating little incentive to finish on time or under budget) failed badly here, and that the agency's new approach of buying fixed-price commercial services may be more practical.