WASHINGTON
- Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) missed its end-of-July goal for completing
financing of the K-1 reusable launcher, but the Oklahoma City-based company
said it expects to present a "closure plan" to NASA by Aug. 3.
The manager
of the NASA program subsidizing development of the K-1 said July 31 he is
willing to give RpK more time to complete its financing.
"RpK
is making good progress and we are being patient to give them every opportunity
to succeed," Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of NASA's Johnson Space
Center-based Commercial Crew and Cargo program, said through a spokeswoman.
"We have not given them a deadline, and as specified in the Space Act
Agreement, are assessing the situation to determine if further efforts are in
the best interest of both parties."
RpK was one
of two companies NASA selected last August under the Commercial Orbital
Transportation Services (COTS) program to split roughly $500 million in
public money to help fund the development of new launchers capable of
delivering cargo to the international space station. California-based Space
Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) was NASA's other COTS finalist.
NASA made
RpK's $207 million COTS award contingent on meeting a series of technical and
financial milestones that would culminate with a demonstration flight to the
international space station. While NASA says RpK has performed well on its
technical milestones, the company has struggled from the beginning to meet its
financial milestones on time.
The first
missed deadline was last September when Rocketplane
Kistler requested and received a 30-day extension from NASA for completing
the initial $40 million financing round.
A second
round of financing amounting to $120 million was due at the end of February.
But as that deadline approached, RpK successfully renegotiated its COTS
agreement, convincing NASA to give it until the end of May to take advantage of
a favorable investment climate and raise the entire $500 million in private
financing it needs, not just the $120 million that was coming due.
When May
came and went without RpK able to nail down its financing, the company's
president, Randy Brinkley, told SPACE.com and NASA he would have the
money by mid-July, later amending that unofficial deadline to the end of July.
Brinkley
told SPACE.com after the close of business July 31 that he was still
working to complete RpK's financing.
There is
"still work in process on alignment of investor funding and also working
on addressing near term bridge loan funding for subcontractors for
August," Brinkley wrote in an e-mail. "Finishing up two day
successful [preliminary design review] on the pressurized cargo module today.
NASA is very much aware and supportive of efforts to close open financing
issues. Hope to have closure plan by the end of this week and will share with
NASA at that time."
Brinkley
declined to provide more specifics on how close RpK is to completing its
financing.
"While
I would like to provide more detail for you it is not appropriate to do so at
this time," he wrote in a follow up e-mail. "I will certainly do so
as soon as I am in a position to do so."
To date,
RpK has received only about $32 million of the $207 million it is entitled to
under the COTS program if it successfully completes its promised demonstration
flights.
RpK's competitors
have been busy in recent weeks lobbying NASA on how it should spend the
remaining $175 million should the U.S. space agency declare RpK in default on
its COTS agreement, something that has not happened yet.
Some of the
COTS finalists would like to see NASA using RpK's money to bring on one or more
new competitors. But Space Exploration Technologies, the other company NASA
selected last August to receive financial assistance with its space station
re-supply system, has been urging NASA to give it RpK's remaining money to step
up development of a crewed capability.
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