I don’t understand how SLS can be so slow to build after they spent billions making it. The side boosters are the same tech from the 70s for the shuttle but it takes literally years to make each one?
The pieces arrived in September 2023 and just 18 months later they’re stacked up. That’s one piece stacked every six weeks. What the hell is taking so long?
rocketwikkit on
The first SLS booster stacking was started on 20 November 2020 and completed on 2 March 2021. The normal lifetime for these SRBs after stacking the first joint is 12 months, though they arbitrarily decided that it would be 18 months for SLS.
SLS launched on 16 November 2022, blowing out even the 18 month limit. They did not unstack it.
With the experience of having done it before, this time they saved one week out of a three month project. If they continue at that pace then we could expect a launch mid-September 2026. The current claim by Nasa is April 2026. The person who was associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate that ran the last SLS program “retires” tomorrow.
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I don’t understand how SLS can be so slow to build after they spent billions making it. The side boosters are the same tech from the 70s for the shuttle but it takes literally years to make each one?
The pieces arrived in September 2023 and just 18 months later they’re stacked up. That’s one piece stacked every six weeks. What the hell is taking so long?
The first SLS booster stacking was started on 20 November 2020 and completed on 2 March 2021. The normal lifetime for these SRBs after stacking the first joint is 12 months, though they arbitrarily decided that it would be 18 months for SLS.
SLS launched on 16 November 2022, blowing out even the 18 month limit. They did not unstack it.
With the experience of having done it before, this time they saved one week out of a three month project. If they continue at that pace then we could expect a launch mid-September 2026. The current claim by Nasa is April 2026. The person who was associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate that ran the last SLS program “retires” tomorrow.