NASA has its own quirks as an agency, but its Ares 1 Vehicle tower is probably the quirkiest of situations that have ever plagued the space agency. According to reports, NASA ‘s massive $1B (originally it was around $234m to build and maintain) tower is now “leaning”. NASASpaceFlight.com reports that the leaning apparently is due to the fact that NASA keeps adding “arms and different functions to the tower”.
“While NASA seems to believe this lean is not enough to require additional construction, it will likely mean that the Mobile Launcher won’t be used for more than one or two launches,” writes Avery Thompson at Popular Mechanics.
The Ares Vehicle I launch is set to take place in 2020 via the agency’s massive Spacecraft Launch Pad. Although it sounds like NASA is flirting with the idea of adding newly-thought-of $300m additions to the tower. (In other news, analysts point out that the tower comes out to $678m a year in upkeep fees).
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