NASA rolled out Aug. 21 the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter (LVSA) for the SLS that will be used on the Artemis 2 mission.
The LVSA will not be used on later versions of the SLS that replace the ICPS with the larger Exploration Upper Stage.
NASA, in an Aug. 14 procurement filing, announced its intent to extend that contract to at least September 2026.
The first is a nine-month extension that would allow the contract to run through June 2027.
That is a reference to the announcement by the agency of delays in both the Artemis 2 and 3 missions.
At a Jan. 9 briefing, NASA said that Artemis 2 would launch no earlier than September 2025, with Artemis 3 to follow no earlier than September 2026.
NASA’s action to extend the LVSA contract appears to anticipate additional delays.
“If additional revisions to the SLS launch manifest are necessary,” it states, the proposed extension includes “an additional five option periods of six months each.” If all are exercised, the contract would run through December 2029.
Washington, D.C. — NASA intends to extend the contract for a component of the Space Launch System with options that appear to be an attempt to hedge against multi-year delays in upcoming missions.
NASA released Aug. 21 the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter (LVSA) for the SLS intended for the Artemis 2 mission. The rocket’s other components are waiting to be integrated at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but the structure itself was constructed at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama and transported there on a barge.
The LVSA is an 8-point-4-meter-tall cone with a base that is 8-point-4 meters across and a top that tapers to 5 meters. With the Block 1 version of the SLS, the structure serves to link the core stage and the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), which serves as the upper stage. When the larger Exploration Upper Stage replaces the ICPS in later SLS versions, the LVSA will not be utilized.
A contract awarded in 2014 designates Teledyne Brown Engineering as the prime contractor for the LVSA. The roughly $200 million contract was meant to expire in September.
NASA stated in an Aug. 14 procurement filing, stating that it intended to keep the contract in effect through September 2026 at the latest. In line with the contract, Teledyne Brown would then be able to finish working on the third and final LVSA “as well as to ultimately conclude LVSA activities.”.
Numerous possibilities for further extensions are also included in the suggested extension. The first is an extension of nine months, which would make the agreement valid until June 2027. As per the filing, that power would be used “should an extension be required to complete Artemis III launch and post-flight analysis in support of NASA Administrator Bill Nelson’s public announcement on January 9, 2024, regarding the current SLS launch manifest.”.
That alludes to the agency’s declaration of delays for the Artemis 2 and 3 missions. When a Jan. NASA announced at the September 9 briefing that Artemis 2 would launch no earlier than September 2025 and Artemis 3 would follow no earlier than September 2026.
Since then, the agency hasn’t changed those release dates. The erosion of the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield during the unmanned Artemis 1 mission in 2022 is one of the problems NASA has not yet publicly addressed and which led to the delay of the Artemis 2 launch. Furthermore, it is unclear if SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander and other critical Artemis 3 components are being developed at a pace that would enable a mission in late 2026.
The LVSA contract extension by NASA seems to be an attempt to account for further delays. It says that the proposed extension includes “an additional five option periods of six months each, if additional revisions to the SLS launch manifest are necessary.”. Should every option be taken, the agreement would expire in December 2029.
