The draft request for proposals proves the agency's commitment "to outsource our space station transportation so NASA can focus its energy and resources on deep space exploration," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement.
Potential providers of the outsourced crew flights, which would launch from the Space Coast, have a month to review and comment on the draft before a final version is released late this year. A SpaceX spokesman said the company was still reviewing the draft language.
SpaceX is one of the four companies that shared nearly $270 million in NASA funding this year to advance designs of spacecraft able to fly people to and from the International Space Station. Blue Origin, The Boeing Co. and Sierra Nevada Corp. Space Systems were the others.
The next contract phase intends to develop integrated transportation systems, combining spacecraft with launch vehicles, escape systems and all the ground systems necessary to launch at least four astronauts to the station.
Expected to be awarded next summer, the next contract phase could be worth $1.6 billion between 2012 and 2014, NASA says. But actual funding could be significantly lower than the total proposed in the Obama administration's 2012 budget. Some companies and commercial space advocates fear limited funding and NASA's new contracting strategy could slow or derail the development program.
"From a technical standpoint (the companies) are proceeding well, but there's a concern about both the future funding and how the contracting is going to be structured in this next phase," said Jeff Foust, an industry analyst with Futron Corp. NASA last week announced it would abandon the use of more simple Space Act Agreements in favor of federal contracts that some companies consider more costly and bureaucratic.
Representatives of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, called the contracts a non-traditional compromise that meets legal obligations while limiting burdensome requirements. The contract would award companies fixed payments when technical milestones are met and a series of three system and safety reviews completed.
IMAGE NOTE: The cargo module for Orbital Sciences' Cygnus space station supply ship arrived at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia late last month. Cygnus is set for a demonstration flight in 2012. Photos by Wallops Flight Facility
2 comments:
NASA just does what I've always said and suggested (posting on ghostNASA, AvWeek, etc.) focusing all funds on one or few programs
and I think these will be boeing and spacex
Late 2016? Including about one year before NASA starting funding them.
The Falcon 9 has flown, one Dragon capsule has re-entered, and I imagine that SpaceX has already done a lot of design work on man-rating it. I'd have thought that three years or less would have been long enough.
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