The initial system would only be able to launch 70 tons. It would not be able to launch 130 tons until 2029 if development schedule was kept. The SLS program would have increased costs when they actually starting launching rockets. Costs would ramp to over $4 billion per year from 2019.

Elon Musk and Spacex will begin building and launching a 150 ton fully reusable rocket starting by 2020 with a possible Mars launch in 2022.