NASA has just ordered boosters from SLS for its future lunar missions until 2031. The contract, signed with Northrop Grumman, amounts to more than three billions of dollars. For the rest, the American agency will probably have to go through other service providers.
The most powerful rocket built by NASA since the Apollo program has been standing for several weeks. Developed since 2011, this apricot-coloured launcher will be responsible for sending crews to the Moon from 2025 , and why not later to the planet Mars. On paper, the Space Launch System thus appears to be a very ambitious launcher, but it also represents the end of the line.
It is indeed probably the last class of rocket that NASA is likely to build. And for good reason, each launch costs around two billion dollars and its boosters are not reusable. So the Space Launch System will ultimately only be a "useful transitional product which will inevitably lead NASA to rely on other service providers (like SpaceX) for its future missions.
Nevertheless, let's not bury SLS too soon. If this launcher does not represent the future, we will indeed have to rely on it for a few years.
Indeed, NASA just awarded a contract worth $3.19 billion to Northrop Grumman for the construction of thrusters for the Artemis lunar missions until 2031 . This agreement builds on a previous 2020 contract for $50 million allowing the company to prepare for the production and construction of twin boosters for the next six SLS flights after Artemis 3 (up to Artemis 9 therefore ).
"The contract allows NASA to work with Northrop Grumman not only to build the boosters for future missions, but also to evolve and improve the boosters for future flights “, said Bruce Tiller, manager of SLS boosters at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
As a reminder, SLS thruster technology is based on solid rocket boosters used to lift old US space shuttles between 1981 and 2011. The manufacturer was initially Thiokol, later named Orbital ATK. Northrop Grumman eventually acquired this company, and its technology, a few years ago.
A few days ago, Northrop Grumman said that it had already completed the production of boosters aimed at lifting to the Artemis 2 mission, which provides for the launch of a capsule inhabited around the Moon probably in 2023 or 2024 . In the meantime, NASA is to send an unmanned capsule around the Moon next February.
Finally, let's remember that Northrop Grumman also performs other NASA contracts in the context of these future lunar missions. This includes the construction of the two engines of the launch abort system of the Orion capsule and the construction of a module for the future station in lunar orbit.
