HE’S RIGHT:
NEWS: Michael Bloomberg calls for cancellation of NASA's Artemis program and the SLS rocket – Says @SpaceX Starship can do same for a small fraction of the cost and, unlike SLS, it's reusable.
Read more: https://t.co/UxDTnreK2P pic.twitter.com/Te2423zWQR
— ALEX (@ajtourville) October 18, 2024
SLS requires Starship and the Lunar Gateway to get enough mass to the moon to make Artemis work. Starship can do the whole thing by itself. All things being equal, Artemis makes no sense.
But all things aren’t equal. SLS costs $4 billion per launch — just for the disposable rocket. SpaceX hopes to drive Starship costs down to $10 million per launch — or less — for a fully (and rapidly) reusable rocket.
Starship requires several launches to bring a full load of cargo to the moon because the second stage requires orbital refueling from more than one tanker. But SLS still costs 40 or 50 times what Starship would — while still requiring Starship to complete Artemis and to get Lunar Gateway built.
Whatever becomes of Artemis specifically or the lunar program generally, there’s zero case for SLS.