Senators Call For Heavy-Lift Competition

California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are asking NASA to compete the propulsion systems for a congressionally mandated heavy-lift rocket that is expected to leverage billions that the agency has invested in existing space shuttle and Ares rocket assets.

In a May 27 letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, the lawmakers assert a competitive bidding process would allow the agency to obtain better technology for NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) at lower initial and lifecycle costs.

“In this time of constrained budgets, it would be inexcusable to funnel billions of taxpayer dollars into a noncompetitive sole-source contract for the new Space Launch System,” the letter states, adding that NASA could save hundreds of millions over the life of the program. “Furthermore, a competitive process will build capacity and enhance the critical skills and capabilities at a wide range of aerospace technology companies.”

In January, NASA provided an interim report to Congress outlining a preliminary design for the new rocket that incorporates the space shuttle’s main engines and Ares rocket’s J-2X upper-stage engine, both built by Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif. The design also utilized the five-segment solid-rocket boosters that Utah-based Alliant TechSystems was developing for the now-defunct Ares 1 launcher, which the Obama administration scuttled in the 2011 budget blueprint President Obama sent to Congress last year.

However, NASA’s cost and schedule estimates for the SLS design failed to square with funding levels recommended in the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 that Obama signed into law last year.

Since completing the interim study, the agency has been evaluating alternatives to the shuttle- and Ares-based architecture directed in the law, including designs that would utilize liquid oxygen/kerosene propulsion systems. NASA also is weighing potential acquisition strategies for procuring the SLS, including alternatives to extending Ares and shuttle contracts.

Opening the heavy-lift rocket development to competition, however, would likely draw protests from lawmakers who represent states that stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars when the space shuttle retires with no immediate follow-on program in place. However, competition for the launcher would allow emerging and established aerospace firms – including Los Angeles-based startup Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Sacramento-based propulsion manufacturer Aerojet – to bid on the SLS program, for which Congress authorized nearly $7 billion through 2013 alone.

In the letter, Feinstein and Boxer assert that a competitive bidding process for the rocket’s propulsion systems would be consistent with the NASA authorization act, which directed the agency to build the massive launcher over the next five years as part of a long-term human exploration strategy for reaching destinations beyond low Earth orbit.

“As you know, this legislation directed the agency to construct a new human-rated spacecraft by 2016 while utilizing existing contracts where ‘practicable,’” the letter states. “However, NASA itself has already concluded that such a plan is not practicable.”

Specifically, the letter cites NASA’s own language in the agency’s January interim report that states, “NASA does not believe this goal is achievable based on a combination of the current funding profile estimate, traditional approaches to acquisition, and currently considered vehicle architectures.”