“It has been really bad down there,” SLS Program Manager John Honeycutt told Huntsville reporters of COVID in Florida. He said a key subcontractor, Jacobs, has “literally lost some key members … to death from COVID.
“So, you can imagine, when you lose key people like that, it makes it challenging for the team as far as getting their work done,” Honeycutt said. “It’s also a pretty big emotional challenge, and the team has to overcome that, as well.”
Even with the new COVID challenge, the first SLS launch will come “the end of this year or early next year,” Marshall Space Flight Center Director Jody Singer said at the briefing held at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. That launch will be an uncrewed journey around the Moon, and COVID won’t affect future SLS missions the way it has the first launch, Honeycutt said.
Honeycutt’s remarks came to questions after a briefing for reporters who routinely cover the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Marshall is leading development of SLS for the space agency. The briefing went into detail about SLS including the number of space shuttle engines remaining for future missions. NASA has enough of those engines remaining to fly the first astronaut loop around the Moon and the eventual landing of the first woman and first person of color. Their existence, proven availability and the cost savings they represent are big reasons NASA designed SLS the way it did.
COVID has affected suppliers “across the country,” Honeycutt said. He mentioned specifically California suppliers of propulsion system components for future SLS rockets.
Speakers at the briefing included Singer and David Beaman, manager of systems engineering for SLS. Mayor Tommy Battle said SLS has contributed $2.4 billion to Alabama’s economy, more than $55 million in state and local taxes and 13,000 jobs. More importantly, Battle said, it has led to systems that improve life on Earth and make “a better world.” Also speaking was Mike Ward, senior vice president of government and public affairs for the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber.
Honeycutt, Beaman and other speakers discussed the technical capabilities of SLS and the launches planned. But it was Ward, who doesn’t work for NASA or one of its contractors, who answered the SLS question posted almost daily on social media: Why?
Why spend tens of billions on SLS and its planned upgrades when America could “outsource” space exploration to commercial space companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin that are spending their founders’ billions developing rockets now?
Ward praised the companies and called the last few years when NASA turned to SpaceX to transport astronauts to the International Space Station, “tremendous,” “remarkable” and “exciting.” But he continued.
“The space station orbits the Earth at about 250 miles up,” Ward said. “Question: How strong is the Earth’s gravitational pull in (that orbit) as a percentage of what we experience here on Earth?
“It’s 90 percent. Ninety percent of what we feel here on Earth is what you feel 250 miles up,” Ward said. “The only reason the space station doesn’t plummet to Earth like a rock is the fact it’s going 17,000 miles an hour. It is in a constant state of freefall going just fast enough to stay in a constant state of orbit.”
To get out of that gravitational well into deep space requires half again as much energy as it takes to get into orbit in the first place, Ward said.
Ward showed a chart he said shows how much mass each rocket in production today could boost to a velocity that would escape the Earth’s gravity and go to the Moon or Mars. “There’s only one rocket that can take the Orion capsule and send it on its way to the Moon,” Ward said. It is SLS.
The second generation of SLS is the only rocket that makes extended deep space exploration possible, Ward said, because it is the only rocket that can carry the necessary load out of Earth’s gravity. The area closer to Earth is a good commercial market for launching satellites, building space stations and taking people into space, Ward said. But he said deep space beyond the Moon doesn’t offer that potential return on investment, so far.
Deep space exploration is still a national and international endeavor, Ward said. Billionaires can certainly do what they want with their money including space exploration, he said, but “this does not take the place of the role that our nation has in such efforts.”
“It’s a national imperative for our country,” Ward said. “If we want to remain a world leader, we must provide opportunities for our allies to join us on this journey of exploration.” If America wants to remain “relevant” in the future, Ward said, it must explore space as a nation.
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