NASA finds errors in the construction of the Artemis 4 rocket

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the NASA (United States Space Agency) released a report that points out errors in rocket development of the mission Artemis 4 the Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1B. According to the document, the component that has been under development since 2014 does not meet standards international standards and the organization’s requirements.

Originally scheduled to be delivered by Boeing in 2021 and launched with Artemis 2, the SLS upper stage, the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS), promises to increase the vehicle’s payload capacity for missions to the Moon by up to 11 tons. The report noted that the delay increased the costs of around R$5.2 billion to R$11 billion .

Artemis 4 is scheduled to launch its maiden flight in September 2028, but is at risk of being delayed due to issues with the development of the EUS — with a delivery date of April 2027.

This mission aims not only to take humans back to the Moon within this decade, but also to send the first female and African-American astronauts to the satellite.

To produce the document that evaluated the construction of the SLS upper stage, employees from the rocket development centers were interviewed and documentation, quality controls, past and current schedules and budgets were reviewed by NASA.

The OIG report identified that the biggest challenge during construction is the airline’s lack of trained and experienced aerospace workers. “To mitigate these challenges, Boeing provides training and work orders to its employees. Given the significant quality control deficiencies at Michoud [fábrica de foguetes]we consider these efforts to be inadequate,” the document says.

The document points out that the cost increases and schedule delays may have been driven by changes in the agency’s technical requirements and funding priorities, coupled with guidelines issued by Congress to try to speed up the rocket’s development.

In a cost forecast for the development of the EUS, NASA indicated that by 2028 the value could reach around R$11 billion — R$5.8 billion more than initially estimated.

The OIG then suggested to Boeing that there be a quality management system training program; financial penalties for failure to meet quality control standards; and a detailed analysis of the cost overruns and deadlines for building the rocket to date—suggestions that were accepted by the airline.

Boeing is grappling with other space-related issues. NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore — who were sent two months ago on the first crewed Starliner flight to spend a week at the International Space Station — have been at the space lab for more than two months and could remain there until early 2025 due to problems with the spacecraft.

And the US agency is facing constant postponements of the Artemis mission. The first of these was an unmanned test that sent the Orion capsule around the Moon. However, the second was scheduled to take place in 2024 and the third in 2025 — both have been postponed.

*With information from Fernanda Pinotti, from CNN

When will man set foot on the moon again?