This story was updated at 6:23 p.m. EDT.
WASHINGTON - Three U.S.
firms are preparing to submit final bids for a pair of NASA International Space
Station cargo services contract worth up to $3.1 billion through 2015.
Space
Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., and Orbital Sciences
Corp., of Dulles, Va., have been honing their rival offers with the aid of
$500 million in demonstration money NASA awarded under its Commercial
Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.
Also in the
hunt for the two contracts NASA intends to award Dec. 23 is Chicago-based
PlanetSpace, a commercial space startup that has built a team around the
biggest names in the aerospace business.
PlanetSpace
announced Oct. 22 that it added Boeing to a team lineup that already included
Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver and Minneapolis-based Alliant
Techsystems.
The day
before, the PlanetSpace met with NASA officials in Houston to present and
defend their proposal for meeting NASA's International Space Station cargo
delivery needs. Final offers for the Commercial Resupply Services contract are
due Nov. 7.
PlanetSpace
is the only one of the three teams that submitted proposals back in June
to develop their re-supply system without the aid of NASA COTS funding.
However, PlanetSpace has been meeting with NASA officials periodically to
review progress on its system under an unfunded COTS agreement signed in early
2007.
SpaceX is
entitled to receive up to $278 million from NASA for meeting progress
milestones spelled out in a 2006 COTS award. Orbital Sciences' 2007
COTS award is worth up to $171 million. Both companies are required to show
steady progress towards demonstration flights of their respective systems.
NASA has
said since the inception of the COTS program that winning demonstration funding
was no guarantee of landing a cargo launch services contract. NASA also made
clear from the get-go that the eventual contract competition would be open to
any U.S. firm.
Under the
Cargo Resupply Services solicitation issued earlier this year, NASA said it was
looking for each selected team to deliver a minimum of 20 metric tons to the
space station over the seven-year life of the contract and bring back a minimum
of three metric tons of materials over the same time period. No minimum dollar
value was specified for the contract, but PlanetSpace Chairman Chirinjeev
Kathuria said NASA has spelled out a maximum contract value of $3.1 billion.
Al Simpson,
acting director of advanced programs, human space flight at Lockheed Martin
Space Systems, said meeting NASA's minimum order with the PlanetSpace system
would entail 10 to 12 launches over the life of the contract.
Lockheed's
role on the team includes working with Boeing to develop, produce and operate
modular Orbital Transfer Vehicles that would serve as cargo carriers to the International
Space Station.
The cargo vehicle would launch atop the Athena 3 rocket Alliant
Techsystems is building largely from heritage hardware. The first stage is a
2.5-segment version of the four-segment solid rocket boosters ATK builds for NASA's
space shuttle fleet. The second stage is the ATK Castor 120 engine used on
Athena 1, Athena 2 and Orbital's Taurus 1 rockets. PlanetSpace is the overall
prime contractor and would manage the Commercial Resupply Services contract.
PlanetSpace
team officials said Boeing brings its expertise as International Space Station
prime contractor to an already well-rounded team.
"A very
strong team member has just joined us," Simpson said. "We have been at this for
quite a while now and have, I think, a very valid offer to address NASA's needs
for cargo re-supply and give them the assurance that somebody can actually
bring cargo to the station."
Simpson
said PlanetSpace could be ready to conduct cargo launches in 2011.
SpaceX and
Orbital Sciences continue to forge ahead on separate cargo delivery
demonstration flights planned for late 2009 and 2010, respectively.
NASA,
meanwhile, issued a notice Oct. 15 that it intends to buy regular crew
transportation and rescue services from Russia through June 2016 under a sole
source contract currently under negotiation. The notice, issued by NASA's Johnson
Space Center, indicates the U.S. space agency is negotiating solely for Soyuz
flights and related services, not for cargo deliveries aboard the unmanned
Russian Progress ship.
NASA
officials have pledged to leave Progress out of the new deal to demonstrate its
commitment to buying re-supply services from the U.S. private sector.
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