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NASA Confirms Integrated Design Contract

The document will go into effect starting July 2012

Sep 20, 2011 12:13 GMT  ·  By
NASA's partnership with the US space industry reached another step Aug. 23, as the cargo module for OSC's Cygnus capsule, which will carry supplies to the ISS, arrived at NASA Wallops Flight Facility
   NASA's partnership with the US space industry reached another step Aug. 23, as the cargo module for OSC's Cygnus capsule, which will carry supplies to the ISS, arrived at NASA Wallops Flight Facility

Officials at NASA announced on September 19 the outlines of the Integrated Design Contract (IDC), which is designed to specify the American space agency's overall strategy for gaining access to privately-built spacecraft, capable of carrying astronauts and cargo to low-Earth orbit (LEO).

The document concerns the International Space Station (ISS) exclusively, the agency announces. The IDC will be applied to companies that are capable of delivering a full suite of orbital services, in addition to logistics and retrieval support on the ground.

In addition to this contract, the space agency also outlined additional, optional milestone for companies participating in its Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) initiative. This program revolves around the construction of private, manned spacecraft capable of reaching the ISS.

The acquisition strategy outline and CCDev2 optional milestones are a significant step forward for NASA. The agency also released a draft request for proposal (RFP), which lists all the conditions eligible candidates must adhere to if they want to secure an IDC award.

“This is a significant step forward in America's amazing story of space exploration,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden explained as the announcement was made on Monday.

“It's further evidence we are committed to fully implementing our plan – as laid out in the [2010 NASA] Authorization Act – to outsource our space station transportation so NASA can focus its energy and resources on deep space exploration,” the top agency official went on to say.

According to yesterday's announcement, the IDC will begin in July 2012, and will last until April 2014. The total value of allotted funds will be around $1.61 billion. To this, the agency is ready to add the necessary funds to boost the completion of CCDev2 optional milestones.

“This IDC effort will bring us through the critical design phase to fully incorporate our human spaceflight safety requirements and NASA's International Space Station mission needs. We look forward to strong US industry response,” NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Ed Mango says.

“All four CCDev2 partners are performing very well and meeting their milestones,” explains the director of the NASA Commercial Spaceflight Development program, Phil McAlister.

“These additional milestones were selected because they sufficiently accelerated the development of commercial crew transportation systems to justify additional NASA investment,” he concludes.