posted 01-13-2016 09:39 PM               

...in this year's report, you will see the ASAP's increased focus on the Exploration Systems Development (ESD) endeavor. Financial and perceived schedule pressures are impacting safety and design considerations.

One specific area of concern ASAP raised in its report is the schedule for Exploration Mission 2 (EM-2), the second flight of the SLS and the first intended to carry a crew. In September, NASA announced that mission had a 70-percent chance of being ready for launch by April 2023, but that NASA would continue to work towards a launch in 2021, as originally scheduled.

ASAP criticized that approach. "NASA's internal direction to the programs is to work to a 2021 EM-2 launch date, which has a schedule confidence level close to zero at requested funding levels," the report stated, adding that NASA appeared to be making "safety trade-offs" to make that date.

The report cited several specific issues with SLS and Orion development and planning for the EM-2 mission, including development of a new SLS upper stage called the Exploration Upper Stage and testing of the life support system in Orion on that mission. The report suggested some of those concerns could be eased if NASA kept Orion in Earth orbit during that mission, rather than go into cislunar space as currently planned.

"This decision," the report said of NASA's current EM-2 plans, "reflects an aggressive development plan that takes the Exploration System from qualification testing to integrated human operations in cislunar space in just two missions."