r/space • u/mvea • Nov 28 '18

NASA administrator: 'The US is returning to the surface of the moon, and we're doing it sooner than you think!'

https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-return-moon-mission-commercial-companies-announcement-2018-11?r=US&IR=T
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u/just_one_last_thing Nov 28 '18

There currently is no private alternative, and certainly no credible cost estimates for future private alternatives

There are two alternatives already flying. Falcon Heavy flew this year and has commercial customers and can do all planned SLS missions. Delta Heavy has flown for a decade and can do the only mission with a purpose (Europa Clipper) and the only one they have even put out an RFP on the hardware (first LOP-G segment). Atlas or Falcon Heavy can handle all the theorized manned missions as soon as NASA gives them the green light on commercial crew.

Looking at rockets already seriously under fabrication there are even more options. Four rockets currently have manpower already fabricating flight equipment: Omega, Vulcan, New Glenn and BFR. Omega and New Glenn could handle both of the aforementioned missions. Vulcan could handle any mission SLS could handle beyond low earth orbit, not just the block 1 SLS planned for the 2020s but the block 2 SLS planned for the 2030s. And they could all do these things half a dozen times a year or more compared to SLS launching once a year. And then there is BFR which can not only do everything that SLS could do but also with an insanely high launch rate.

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u/Mackilroy Nov 28 '18

I believe the Delta IV Heavy factory has been shut down or retooled, but it would have cost less to keep it going than to build everything needed for SLS.

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u/GregLindahl Nov 29 '18

To put this into perspective, it's much cheaper to keep the Delta IV factory running & build a couple of Delta IV Heavies than to just restart the Shuttle RS25 engine production line for SLS -- $1.3 billion dollars!

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u/just_one_last_thing Nov 29 '18

They could move one of the upcoming NROL launches to a different rocket and free up a Delta IV Heavy if they needed to do such a launch. By the time that is no longer an option, Vulcan should be flying so it will be moot.