The new mobile launch platform for the heavy version of the SLS missile will cost four times more than planned. to such results to come NASA’s Office of the Inspector General’s auditors.
Bechtel’s mobile launch platform is needed to launch the super-heavy SLS Block 1B rocket, which is planned to be used in flights to the moon starting with the Artemis 4 mission. This version of the rocket is approximately 10 meters longer than Block 1.
NASA awarded Bechtel a $383 million contract to design and build the ML-2 Mobile Launch Platform in June 2019, and the platform is expected to be ready by March 2023. The platform will look like a giant tracked carrier with a long turret to hold the missile.
As of February 2022, Bechtel estimated the cost of completing the ML-2 at $960.1 million, 2.5 times the original contract value. This estimate assumes the ML-2 is in production by October 2025, after which the platform will need more than a year of testing and prep work before it’s ready to launch Artemis 4.
But NASA auditors do not believe these predictions. Using their calculation methodologies, they concluded that the probability of completing the task on time for the specified money is about 4%. With a 70% probability, the total cost of the platform will be $ 1.5 billion and will not be ready until the fall of 2027. Given the tests, the rocket will not be able to launch from the ML-2 until the end of 2028, although the Artemis 4 mission is scheduled for 2027.
According to the audit, more than 70% of the cost increase and 60% of the time delay were due in part to the poor performance of the contractor, although NASA itself was responsible. “According to NASA and Bechtel management, the company underestimated the overall scope and complexity of the design at the outset of work on the ML-2, so the estimate of the cost of equipment, supplies, and labor hours was underestimated,” the report says. . In addition, the originally planned 5,400 tons weight of the platform increased to over 400 tons as of January.
Bechtel did not agree with the audit findings. In their view, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has not been adequately considered.