I do not understand figure 10.It looks as though Commercial Crew is being eliminated in 2019.
Quote from: vulture4 on 04/05/2015 05:56 pmI do not understand figure 10.It looks as though Commercial Crew is being eliminated in 2019.From 2018-2020 it probably transitions from development to operations which is a different (likely ISS related) budget.
2018 report is out:https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-280SP
A new report provides some insight into the challenges that SpaceX and Boeing are facing when it comes to flying commercial crew missions, and it also suggests both companies may be nearly two years away from reaching operational status for NASA.The assessment of large projects at NASA, published on Tuesday by the US Government Accountability Office, found that certification of the private spacecraft for flying astronauts to the International Space Station may be delayed to December 2019 for SpaceX and February 2020 for Boeing."Both of the Commercial Crew Program's contractors have made progress developing their crew transportation systems, but delays persist as the contractors have had difficulty executing aggressive schedules," the report states.
“Performance has worsened after years of following a general positive trend,” testified Cristina T. Chaplain, the director of Contracting and National Security Acquisitions at GAO, at the hearing. The reasons, she said, had to do with “risky management decisions, unforeseen technical challenges—some avoidable and some not—and workmanship errors.”
Was it directly attributable to NASA not having a NASA Administrator? Will Bridenstine be able to solve the core issues driving launch delays and get them down to where Bolden had them?
Quote from: Coastal Ron on 05/01/2018 08:32 pmWas it directly attributable to NASA not having a NASA Administrator? Will Bridenstine be able to solve the core issues driving launch delays and get them down to where Bolden had them?Has nothing to do with the Administrator.
Oof. New report from GAO on NASA's major programs finds: "We expect cost increases and schedule delays for major programs to get worse." This work does not consider COVID-19 effects, either.
The cost performance of NASA’s portfolio of major projects has worsened for the third consecutive year, while the average schedule delay has decreased. Since we last reported in May 2019, cost growth has increased from 27.6 percent to approximately 31 percent. The average launch delay decreased from 13 months to approximately 12 months. Our analysis shows that NASA’s cost and schedule performance is expected to deteriorate as a result of several factors, including likely Artemis I delays and understated cost growth for the Orion and SLS programs. According to NASA officials, the partial government shutdown that occurred between December 2018 and January 2019 did not affect projects’ cost and schedule baselines, but these officials identified varying other effects including the use of cost and schedule reserves. Looking forward, programs that will be part of NASA’s plans to conduct a lunar landing in 2024 will begin to enter the portfolio and present additional cost and schedule risks as NASA works toward this aggressive target date.
This seems like it isn't good. The new GAO report on NASA's big programs includes this nugget on the SLS rocket: "Program officials indicated that one of the top remaining technical risks to the green run test is that the core stage may develop leaks when it is filled with fuel."
Let's be honest, if you take nine years and ~$10 billion to design and build a large fuel tank, one of your very highest priorities should be that it ... not leak.