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NASA Awards $50 Million to Private Companies

For developing crew-transportation concepts

Feb 2, 2010 09:46 GMT  ·  By
NASA follows Obama's orders by granting $50 million to private corporations, for research on a new approach of conducting space exploration
   NASA follows Obama's orders by granting $50 million to private corporations, for research on a new approach of conducting space exploration

Not one day after Project Constellation was officially sacked, the American space agency has granted private companies a total of $50 million for research programs into developing new crew-transportation concepts and technology demonstrations for human spaceflight. The measure is aimed at boosting the nation's space capabilities, but it's going to take some time until viable options are presented, agreed upon and pursued, NASA reports. The funds were awarded via the 2009 US Recovery Act.

This was the first measure in a set of many aimed at following US President's Barack Obama new vision for space exploration, officials at the agency said. “The president has asked NASA to partner with the aerospace industry in a fundamentally new way, making commercially provided services the primary mode of astronaut transportation to the International Space Station. We are pleased to be able to quickly move forward to advance this exciting plan for NASA,” Charles Bolden, the NASA administrator, says.

“These selections represent a critical step to enable future commercial human spaceflight. These impressive proposals will advance NASA significantly along the path to using commercial services to ferry astronauts to and from low Earth orbit, and we look forward to working with the selected teams,” the NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems, Doug Cooke, adds. The companies that divide the $50 million are Blue Origin of Kent, Washington, The Boeing Company of Houston, Paragon Space Development Corporation of Tucson, Arizona, Sierra Nevada Corporation of Louisville, Colorado, and United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado.

The money was not divided equally. Here is a basic schematic of how the research funds were alloted: - Blue Origin will receive $3.7 million; - The Boeing Company will receive $18 million; - Paragon Space Development Corporation will receive $1.4 million; - Sierra Nevada Corporation will receive $20 million; - United Launch Alliance will receive $6.7 million.

These so-called Space Act Agreements are destined solely for concept studies on developing new ideas to approach space explorations, in a feasible and cost-efficient manner. Now, with the ARES I rocket and the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle canceled, private corporations have the “playing field” all to themselves. Unfortunately, with the Project Constellation gone, NASA is back to square one. With only five remaining shuttle flights before the spacecraft are retired, the agency will find itself at the beginning of 2011 without any means of ferrying its own astronauts to the low-Earth orbit for the first time in its history.