JF Mezei wrote:

On 2017-03-02 22:31, Jeff Findley wrote:

SLS/Orion still looks like a "launcher to nowhere". Given the current
plans, even assuming there is a 2nd Trump term, it doesn't look like
SLS/Orion will be doing much of anything before President Trump is out
of office. SAD!


My understanding is that SLS engine contract is , at this point, only
R&D to see how much it would cost to build new SSME engines more
efficiently.


We've discussed this before. Your understanding is WRONG. Do you
have short term memory issues?


Eventually, NASA has to get budget confirmation so it can place an order
for those engines.


Not so much. The CURRENT contract does everything but actually buy
engines. It funds redesign, production line, and engine qualification
hardware for $1.16 billion. In other words, it does everything but
actually deliver engines to NASA. There is an option line ON THIS
CONTRACT that allows NASA to buy six engines at the end for $340
million.


If such funding isn't likely to happen and is more likely to trigger the
end of SLS, NASA is then more likely to stay under the radar and
continue its development without ordeing new engines and launch the 2 or
3 flighst from the leftover SSME engines before the programme is canned
when NASA asks for funding for production engines for a rocket to nowehere.


You think spending $1.16 billion to restart engine production and then
not buying any engines is 'under the radar'? I'd call it 'waste'.
There are enough engines for the first four SLS flights.


--
"Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the
truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong."
-- Thomas Jefferson