NASA helps private companies launch new spacecraft
Filling a void left by NASA as it reorients its mission, third-party companies are planning to launch several new spacecraft -- with money from the beleaguered space agency.
NASA funds are helping support efforts by several companies, including Boeing, Sierra Nevada Space Systems and SpaceX, with the hope that a public-private partnership will make space flight more efficient, less costly and more competitive on the global stage.
The New York Times reports:
But Boeing and SpaceX are not the only competitors seeking to provide space taxi services, a program that NASA calls commercial crew. Last year, in the first-round financing provided for preliminary development, Sierra Nevada Space Systems won the largest award: $20 million out of a total of $50 million.
In December, another space company, Orbital Sciences Corporation, announced it had submitted a similar bid for a space plane it wants financed during the second round. NASA is to announce the winners by the end of March, and they will divide $200 million.
About half of NASA’s $19 billion budget goes toward human spaceflight — the space shuttles, the International Space Station — and $200 million this year is just a small slice.
The idea is that these small companies can take on smaller tasks with more inexpensive vehicles, and what you're seeing is an array of new partnerships among space firms to make up for gaps in experience and expertise: United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, builds the rocket that could take Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser (see photo, above) into orbit; Richard Branson's startup Virgin Galactic has signed on to sell seats on the spacecraft.
It's a drastic reconfiguration of the playing field, but each team is fielding familiar faces, reaffirming relationships while competing nonetheless.
But one must simply wonder: will there be enough demand to support commercial spaceflight?
Businesses Take Flight, With Help From NASA [NYT]
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com