Slow Launch Tempo Clouds Long-Term Role of Space Launch System Written 6 February 2026
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NASA’s SLS Block 1B crew rocket in flight. | Credit: NASA
Ars Technica reports, “The Space Launch System rocket program is now a decade and a half old, and it continues to be dominated by two unfortunate traits: It is expensive, and it is slow. The massive rocket and its convoluted ground systems, so necessary to baby and cajole the booster’s prickly hydrogen propellant on board, have cost US taxpayers in excess of $30 billion to date. And even as it reaches maturity, the rocket is going nowhere fast.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)