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Although alternatives such as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy exist, the space agency is legally required to launch its Europa Clipper spacecraft on the behind-schedule Space Launch System //
The current appropriations bill mandates Europa Clipper use the SLS and requires a “launch no later than 2023” on the rocket. //
Each SLS launch is estimated to run more than $1 billion. //
2025—or on something other than the SLS—it would be in violation of current law, which means the law must change or a working SLS must suddenly appear in order for Europa Clipper to take off in accordance with federal statute. //
The SLS has an undeniable advantage over Falcon Heavy: it enables a direct flight from Earth to Jupiter. Falcon Heavy will require gravity assists from other planets, and unless it uses an add-on “kicker stage”—an additional upper stage for extra loft—one of those gravity assists will require an encounter with Venus. According to Salute, a Venus flyby introduces “a riskier environment, radiation and temperature. And so we would like to avoid flying closer to Venus with this direct trajectory that SLS affords us.