nasa invests in private sector space

NASA Invests in Private Sector Space Flight with SpaceX, Rocketplane-Kistler

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NASA is making an unprecedented investment in commercial space

transportation services with the hope of creating a competitive market

for supply flights to the International Space Station (ISS).

Two industry partners will receive a combined total of approximately

$500 million to help fund the development of reliable, cost-effective

access to low-Earth orbit. The agency is using its Space Act authority

to facilitate the demonstration of these new capabilities. NASA signed

Space Agreements Aug. 18 with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)

of El Segundo, Calif., and Rocketplane-Kistler (RpK) of Oklahoma City

to develop and demonstrate the vehicles, systems, and operations

needed to support a human facility such as ISS. Once the space shuttle

is retired, NASA hopes to become just one of many customers for a new,

out-of-this-world parcel service.

Image of Rocketplane-Kistler Orbit-1 Vehicle and crew capsule Image at

right: Artist's concept of Rocketplane-Kistler's K-1 Orbital Vehicle.

Credit NASA

+ Larger Image

The venture marks a break with tradition for the 48-year-old space

agency. "This is the first opportunity NASA has taken to engage

entrepreneurs in a way that allows us to satisfy our needs and lets

commercial industry gain a foothold. It could, and should, have

profound impacts on the way NASA does business," said Marc Timm,

acting Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program

executive in NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.

Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program

Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center, said NASA's offer of seed money

fulfills President Bush's Jan. 14, 2004 directive to promote

commercial participation in space exploration. The 2005 NASA

Authorization Act also calls on the agency to advance space commerce.

"We are directly tied to the Vision for Space Exploration and the law

of the land," Lindenmoyer said. "COTS marks a significant NASA

activity to implement the commercialization portion of U.S. space

policy."

The demonstrations are scheduled to begin as early as 2008 and

continue through 2010 or later. COTS will be carried out in two

phases. Phase 1, unveiled Aug. 18, will include safe disposal or

return of spacecraft that successfully dock at ISS and deliver cargo.

A follow-on option to demonstrate crew transportation also is planned.

Once demonstrated, NASA plans to purchase transportation services

competitively in Phase 2.

Image of Space X Falcon 9 Launch Vehicle and Dragon crew and cargo

vehicle Image at left: Artist's concept of SpaceX's Falcon 9 Launch

Vehicle and Dragon crew and cargo capsules. Credit NASA

+ Larger Image

Partners will be paid only if they succeed. Payments will be

incremental and based upon the partners' progress against a schedule

of performance milestones contained in each Space Act agreement. The

agreements were tailored to the individual partners and negotiated

before partnership selections were made. NASA will gauge progress

through site visits and milestone achievements.

Usually, the space agency issues detailed requirements and

specifications for its flight hardware and it takes ownership of any

vehicles and associated infrastructure that a contractor produces. For

COTS, NASA specified only high level goals and objectives instead of

detailed requirements where possible, and left its industry partners

responsible for decisions about design, development, certification and

operation of the transportation system. Because NASA has a limited

amount of money to invest, it encouraged the partners to obtain

private financing for their projects and it left them free to market

the new space transportation services to others.

This model for pursuing of commercial space services is another first

for NASA and a reflection on the growing maturing of commercial space

capabilities. "This is not a traditional NASA procurement or program.

We could change the economics of space flight with this," said

Lindenmoyer, whose office oversees COTS. NASA expects use of this

model to increase over time as the exploration program unfolds,

potentially extending to the provision of power, communications, and

habitation facilities by commercial entities.

Limited resources and the space shuttle's pending retirement created

the need for the new service, and the emergence of enabling technology

has created a favorable environment for COTS development, according to

Timm. Industry interest was keen, with nearly 100 companies submitting

expressions of interest and 20 companies submitting initial proposals.

NASA expects that purchasing commercial space transportation services

will be more economical than developing government systems of

comparable capability. This could free up additional resources for

lunar missions and other activities beyond low-Earth orbit.

The biggest benefit of the anticipated cost savings is the opening of

new markets for an emerging industry, according to Lindenmoyer. "If we

had cost-effective access, many new markets -- biotechnology,

microgravity research, industrial parks in space, manufacturing,

tourism -- could start to open. That's what is so important about this

effort."