Op-ed on NASA's SLS v SpaceX's Falcon Heavy

[Peter B]

http://www.space.com/24628-will-spacex-kill-nasa-sls.html

The private spaceflight company Space X plans to build a rocket so big it would "make the Apollo moon rocket look small,"the company's CEO, Elon Musk, announced on "CBS This Morning"on Feb. 3.

The huge rocket would ultimately send colonists to Mars, but what would SpaceX do in the meantime? The company's primary focus right now is giving NASA astronauts access to the International Space Station (ISS) on American vehicles, drastically lowering prices to Earth orbit versus what the Russians are charging, Musk said.

...

 This all begs the question: If SpaceX is going to build this gargantuan rocket on its own dime, anyway, why is the U.S. Congress forcing NASA to develop the less capable Space Launch System (SLS) for many billions of dollars more?

Earlier, SpaceX stated it could develop a rocket that would launch 150 metric tons of payload,or 20 metric tons more than the most powerful version of SLS at a fixed price development cost of $2.5 billion (an amount that comes to roughly 1.25 years of SLS's funding).

I was wondering if the subject-matter experts on this board would care to comment on this article. I have my own non-expert opinion, but I'd prefer to keep it to myself until I hear what people more knowledgeable than me think.

Thank you!

[Glom]

SLS is really all about pork, right?  The big concern for SpaceX is that while they may be able to develop the capability faster and cheaper, would the government bar them from the market in order to protect their the image of SLS?

[gwiz]

SLS is really all about pork, right?

Yep, Senate Launch System.

[AtomicDog]

SLS is being built. After all of the false starts over the years, there had better be a damn good reason to cancel it.

[Peter B]

SLS is being built. After all of the false starts over the years, there had better be a damn good reason to cancel it.

Well, I suppose the question is why the SLS is being built? If it's simply to provide the US Govt with a heavy lift rocket, why not instead help fund SpaceX's Falcon X Heavy production line and buy the rockets they build? The article I linked above would appear to indicate that would be a lot cheaper than the SLS. But if, as the article suggests, the SLS is a high-tech piece of pork, wouldn't cancellation be justified?

[cjameshuff]

SLS is being built. After all of the false starts over the years, there had better be a damn good reason to cancel it.

• The costs of development and launch for the 13 SLS launches, ending in 2032, work out to as much as 122 Falcon Heavy launches. Assuming no overruns.
• Assuming no delays, the first launch of the fully capable SLS won't happen until 2022. The Falcon Heavy is scheduled to launch this year.
• SpaceX is willing to develop an even larger rocket on a similar timeframe to the SLS and for far less money.
• With the costs of development of the SLS, there's no funding to develop a mission to use it on.

These seem like excellent reasons to cancel it.

[AtomicDog]

SLS is being built. After all of the false starts over the years, there had better be a damn good reason to cancel it.

Well, I suppose the question is why the SLS is being built? If it's simply to provide the US Govt with a heavy lift rocket, why not instead help fund SpaceX's Falcon X Heavy production line and buy the rockets they build? The article I linked above would appear to indicate that would be a lot cheaper than the SLS. But if, as the article suggests, the SLS is a high-tech piece of pork, wouldn't cancellation be justified?

I am a fan of Elon Musk. I intend for my next car to be a Tesla. But I am wary of throwing away billions of dollars and years of work AGAIN on a promise.

[Peter B]

SLS is being built. After all of the false starts over the years, there had better be a damn good reason to cancel it.

Well, I suppose the question is why the SLS is being built? If it's simply to provide the US Govt with a heavy lift rocket, why not instead help fund SpaceX's Falcon X Heavy production line and buy the rockets they build? The article I linked above would appear to indicate that would be a lot cheaper than the SLS. But if, as the article suggests, the SLS is a high-tech piece of pork, wouldn't cancellation be justified?

I am a fan of Elon Musk. I intend for my next car to be a Tesla. But I am wary of throwing away billions of dollars and years of work AGAIN on a promise.

Even if it produces a rocket which is grossly more expensive than the Falcon (based on cjameshuff's post)?

[bknight]

Looks like a test on the SRB.  Jay how far are you from Promontory?

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/update-nasa-to-discuss-broadcast-booster-test-for-space-launch-system-rocket

[JayUtah]

Looks like a test on the SRB.  Jay how far are you from Promontory?

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/update-nasa-to-discuss-broadcast-booster-test-for-space-launch-system-rocket

Right now, about a quarter mile.

[bknight]

Looks like a test on the SRB.  Jay how far are you from Promontory?

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/update-nasa-to-discuss-broadcast-booster-test-for-space-launch-system-rocket

Right now, about a quarter mile.

If you able to hear the test, on a scale from the SRB's of the Shuttle(assuming you heard any of those tests) what was the noise level of this booster?

[JayUtah]

If you able to hear the test, on a scale from the SRB's of the Shuttle(assuming you heard any of those tests) what was the noise level of this booster?

I can't hear anything very well right now. 

All seriousness aside, it's no louder than a shuttle SRB from the viewing area.

[bknight]

If you able to hear the test, on a scale from the SRB's of the Shuttle(assuming you heard any of those tests) what was the noise level of this booster?

I can't hear anything very well right now. 

All seriousness aside, it's no louder than a shuttle SRB from the viewing area.

Thanks
I have never been around any and was wondering if it were louder than previous SRB's.

[JayUtah]

If so, then only marginally.

OrbitalATK is my customer, so I generally have to say nice things about what they do.  But SLS isn't all they do.  I agree with many who offer the opinion that SLS not the way to go.  It's big, outdated, and expensive -- a Cadillac rocket to nowhere.  I'll let others more versed than I in economics explain the sunken-cost fallacy.

[bknight]

If so, then only marginally.

OrbitalATK is my customer, so I generally have to say nice things about what they do.  But SLS isn't all they do.  I agree with many who offer the opinion that SLS not the way to go.  It's big, outdated, and expensive -- a Cadillac rocket to nowhere.  I'll let others more versed than I in economics explain the sunken-cost fallacy.

What is or will be the thrust for each SRB?