WASHINGTON: NASA has selected two small private firms to develop a cargo ship that will service the International Space Station, paving the way for the creation of a commercial space industry. The two firms, El Segundo, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. or SpaceX, and Oklahoma City-based Rocketplane Kistler, will share seed money worth $485 million for the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, NASA announced Friday.
This is for the first time that the NASA has brought in private contractors to build a spaceship, which will be owned by the private companies.
NASA admitted it is making an investment that is high in risk. A spokesperson for the agency said, it is like venture capital, involving high risk and high reward.
The project is intended to be an attempt by NASA to fill a four-year gap between the decommissioning of the existing space shuttle fleet by 2010 and construction of a new vehicle that will continue with the mission by 2014.
While both the companies had no prior exposure in space venture, leave aside sending a craft into orbit, they indeed offered, apart from building the spaceship, to transport astronauts to the space station and bring them back too.
The crafts developed by the two companies will be initially used to haul cargo to the space station. Later on, they will be allowed to carry people. If they can accomplish this, NASA will focus its proposed new crew exploration vehicle (CEV) on missions to moon.
NASA said it will make higher investments in transporting humans, if the companies prove their capabilities in ferrying cargo.
Rocketplane Kistler is a joint venture between Rocketplane Limited Inc. and Kistler Aerospace Corp. SpaceX is a venture founded by internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, who had originally created PayPal.
Rocketplane Kistler, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2005, has formed a partnership with some major aerospace companies, including Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin. The company announced plans to launch a couple into suborbit in 2008 for the first marriage in space. SpaceX has proposed a rocket launch for Bigelow Aerospace, which is planning to set up a space station.
Scott Horowitz, exploration head at NASA, who selected the two companies from a list of six, said if the commercial sector can do it safely and more cost effectively, it makes sense to but the service. He said the recent setbacks experienced by the two companies are not a major cause for worry as failure and high risk are part of the rocket business.
So far, NASA has been funding the entire development cost of spaceships for human spaceflight, including the space shuttles. It is expected to continue with this practice for the development of the CEV, which is a multi-billion dollar project. There are three major companies vying to get this contract -- Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing.
The COTS project will be handled slightly differently. NASA will be merely "investing" in the project, primarily supported by the private sector, with payments being made periodically as technical and financial targets are achieved. The program is expected to extend till 2009 end. The project is targeting three test flights, including an unmanned flight to the space station.
