Rocket Report: SpaceX launch prices are going up; Russia fixes broken launch pad
Ars Technica • • business
Key Points:
- NASA has restructured the Artemis program by canceling the new upper stage for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, opting instead for a commercial upper stage, likely United Launch Alliance’s Centaur V, to reduce costs and simplify missions; Artemis III will now be a low-Earth orbit mission without lunar landing, with Artemis IV becoming the first lunar landing attempt.
- The US Air Force’s Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program faces delays and cost overruns, with new silos being constructed across multiple states instead of modifying old Minuteman III silos, driving the program’s cost from $78 billion to over $141 billion.
- Japan’s Space One experienced a third consecutive launch failure with its Kairos small rocket self-destructing
