NASA spent almost $100 million and wasted 19 months on a propulsion module for the International Space Station before finding out the design was unacceptable, a NASA inspector general's audit reported Thursday.
A propulsion module would provide flight control to the station and would help to lift the station to higher orbits around the Earth using small rockets.
The inspector general's report follows two other outside reports that gave poor ratings to NASA management. A Florida Today investigation also found mismanagement, over-optimistic planning and other missteps that led to a $4 billion space station cost overrun.
The financial problems threaten to undermine the very purpose of the outpost: scientific research. NASA may cut science projects by 40 percent, with man-hours spent on science cut by 90 percent.
The inspector's audit, dated May 21 but released Thursday, also found:
NASA violated federal purchasing rules by failing to seek competitive bids on the module and by failing to produce plans for the acquisition, project, and risk-management.
The $1.6 billion cost of a replacement propulsion system, started after the first program was killed, made for a poor investment. That program was terminated in March.
The inspector general offered no recommendation for action because the programs were canceled.
NASA management took issue with several findings of the audit. Roy Estess, acting director of Johnson Space Center, which has overseen the space station program, said: "We do not agree with the audit findings regarding our acquisition methodology nor all the actions depicted which led to the cancellation of the U.S. Propulsion System."
As for seeking bids to build the propulsion system, NASA managers said they think the module fell within the scope of the station project and was rightly awarded to the station's prime contractor, Boeing.Estess explained that although the cancellation of the propulsion system allowed NASA "to put an estimated $675 million to better use," the propulsion system was cancelled to reduce risk in the overall station program. He also said the module was no longer needed because a Russian control module, Zvezda, provided a similar function.
The U.S. propulsion plan was started because Zvezda's delivery was in doubt. The delivery of the module was delayed for 19 months.
The audit outlines cost increases to the program that reached about 125 percent of the original $331 million price tag within 18 months.
The increases resulted from added requirements and schedule slips, the audit found.
The cost estimates for the module throughout the life of the station increased by $511 million to about $1.6 billion. That includes the cost of repairs and upkeep and occasional roundtrip shuttle flights to bring the module back to Earth for repairs.
"Although the costs increased, the budget stayed the same," the audit states.
Furthermore, while costs were increasing on the replacement module, it was planned to be less capable than the original propulsion module. It's lifespan, for example, was only six years compared to 12 years for the earlier version.
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