By 
March 17th, 2020
The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is the large building located in the upper left corner of the photograph and ML-1 is the tall tower-like structure
resting on the crawler-transporter located in the lower right corner.
Credit: NASA
NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released today, March 17, 2020: Audit of NASA’s Development of Its Mobile Launchers
In May 2019, NASA announced the Artemis program with the goal to return U.S. astronauts to the Moon by 2024 using the Space Launch System (SLS), the Agency’s new heavy-lift rocket. The Agency is developing two mobile launchers at Kennedy Space Center that will serve as the ground structure to assemble, process, transport, and launch the SLS.
The first mobile launcher (ML-1)—originally constructed in 2010 for the since-cancelled Constellation Program’s Ares I launch vehicle at a cost of $234 million—required large-scale modifications to support the SLS.
Source: NASA OIG presentation of Agency information.
Cost and schedule
The OIG report flags the fact that NASA has greatly exceeded its cost and schedule targets in developing ML-1.
As of January 2020, modification of ML-1 to accommodate the SLS has cost $693 million—$308 million more than the Agency’s March 2014 budget estimate—and is running more than 3 years behind schedule.
To improve potential outcomes for ML-2 development, the OIG report makes four recommendations to NASA’s Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate:
To read the report — Audit of NASA’s Development of Its Mobile Launchers — go to:
Posted in Space News
