NASA report finds Boeing seat prices are 60% higher than
SpaceX
"Boeing has made significant investments in the
commercial crew program."
People in safety gear work on a spacecraft mockup
in the desert.
Enlarge / Teams from NASA, Boeing, and the White
Sands Missile Range rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing's CST-100
Starliner on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019.
NASA
On Thursday,
NASA's inspector general released a report on the space agency's commercial crew
program, which seeks to pay Boeing and SpaceX to develop vehicles to transport
astronauts to the International Space Station.
Although the report cites
the usual technical issues that the companies are having with the development of
their respective Starliner and Dragon spacecraft, far more illuminating is its
discussion of costs. Notably, the report publishes estimated seat prices for the
first time, and it also delves into the extent that Boeing has gone to extract
more money from NASA above and beyond its fixed-price award.
Boeing's
per-seat price already seemed like it would cost more than SpaceX. The company
has received a total of $4.82 billion from NASA over the lifetime of the
commercial crew program, compared to $3.14 billion for SpaceX. However, for the
first time the government has published a per-seat price: $90 million for
Starliner and $55 million for Dragon. Each capsule is expected to carry four
astronauts to the space station during a nominal mission.
Comparison of Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's
Dragon vehicles.
NASA Inspector General
What is notable about
Boeing's price is that it is also higher than what NASA has paid the Russian
space corporation, Roscosmos, for Soyuz spacecraft seats to fly US and
partner-nation astronauts to the space station. Overall, NASA paid Russia an
average cost per seat of $55.4 million for the 70 completed and planned missions
from 2006 through 2020. Since 2017, NASA has paid an average of $79.7
million.
Beyond these seat prices, Inspector General Paul Martin's report
also notes that Boeing received additional funding from NASA, above and beyond
its fixed-price award.
"Not consistent"
"We found that NASA agreed to
pay an additional $287.2 million above Boeing's fixed prices to mitigate a
perceived 18-month gap in ISS flights anticipated in 2019 and to ensure the
contractor continued as a second commercial crew provider, without offering
similar opportunities to SpaceX," the report states.
According to Martin,
who had extensive access to NASA officials in the preparation of the report,
Boeing in 2016 proposed pricing for its third through sixth crewed missions
using the "single 2016 mission price," which was substantially higher than NASA
and Boeing had originally agreed upon. In response to this, NASA's Office of
Procurement determined this was "not consistent with the terms of the contract
and did not match the contract's fixed-price table."
However, Boeing
continued to press NASA for additional funding. After "prolonged negotiations,"
according to Martin, Boeing offered some benefits to NASA, such as reduced lead
times before the missions and a variable launch cadence. NASA then agreed to pay
the additional $287.2 million for these four missions, which are likely to fly
in the early 2020s.
Perhaps the most striking rationale for approving the
additional funds was that Boeing may have discussed backing out of the
commercial crew program (CCP). Martin writes, "According to several NASA
officials, a significant consideration for paying Boeing such a premium was to
ensure the contractor continued as a second crew transportation provider. CCP
officials cited NASA's guidance to maintain two US commercial crew providers to
ensure redundancy in crew transportation as part of the rationale for approving
the purchase of all four missions at higher prices."
A spokesman for
Boeing, Josh Barrett, denied that Boeing had threatened to end its commercial
crew participation. "Boeing has made significant investments in the commercial
crew program, and we are fully committed to flying the CST-100 Starliner and
keeping the International Space Station fully crewed and operational," he told
Ars.
The report notes that as NASA was agreeing to pay Boeing extra for
these benefits, a similar deal was not offered to SpaceX. "In contrast, SpaceX
was not notified of this change in requirements and was not provided an
opportunity to propose similar capabilities that could have resulted in less
cost or broader mission flexibilities," Martin writes.
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