NASA IG Says NASA Could Save Money By Using Minotaur for Medium-Class Missions

NASA Inspector General (IG) Paul Martin released a report today criticizing NASA’s acquisition strategy for commercial launch vehicle services because it does not take advantage of the Minotaur rocket for medium-class missions.

“Our analysis shows that use of the Minotaur for certain NASA science missions offers significant savings when compared to the available commercially provided intermediate class launch vehicles cited in NASA’s report to Congress. Moreover, it also would be less expensive than SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which is still under development and not yet certified to carry NASA science missions. For example, if NASA used the Minotaur rather than Falcon 9 or the intermediate-class Atlas V for the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission scheduled for launch in November 2014, the Agency could save between $61 million and $156 million…”

The IG report continued that NASA’s explanation for not using Minotaur is that it “could have a negative impact on the domestic commercial rocket industry because it might discourage companies from entering the launch services market,” but the IG concludes that it is unlikely they would be ready in time for the SMAP mission. “Accordingly, while we appreciate the legal and policy reasons for promoting commercial launch providers, we believe that NASA should consider using the Minotaur as a launch vehicle for appropriate science missions until cost-effective and reliable commercial launch services are available.”

Minotaurs are based on decomissioned intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs.) The IG report says that NASA does consider Minotaur for small missions in its launch services acquisition strategy, but not for medium-class missions.