NASA Shuttle Closing Could Benefit Space Startups

(By Irene Klotz) - After the U.S. space shuttle program ends this month, NASA will rely on Russia and its Soyuz craft to deliver Americans to the International Space Station -- at a cost of more than $50 million a seat.

That could change relatively soon as three companies develop commercial space taxis to launch from the United States -- Boeing Co, Space Exploration Technologies, also known as SpaceX, and Sierra Nevada Corp.

Boeing and SpaceX, owned by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, propose capsule-style ships that descend to Earth on parachutes, rather than glide like the shuttle to a runway landing. Sierra Nevada is working on a shuttle-like winged vehicle called the Dream Chaser.

All three spaceships are designed to carry up to seven people or a mix of crew and cargo.

The companies share NASA contracts worth $247 million to help pay development costs and all hope to win work flying crews to the space station. The U.S. space agency also has a $22 million contract with Blue Origin, a start-up owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos that is focusing first on suborbital flight.

"This has been painted as a revolutionary approach and it's really not as big of a deal as it's made out to be," said Garrett Reisman, a former astronaut now at SpaceX.

"NASA has been working with contractors since the very beginning. It was contractors that built the space shuttle and the Apollo rockets. What's really different this time round is something as mundane as contracting -- the way the government does business."

For large programs, NASA, like most federal agencies, traditionally reimburses contractors for all costs and adds bonuses for performance. "That can provide good people with the wrong kinds of incentives," Reisman said.

The new commercial model is fixed-priced and milestone-based.

FLIGHTS FOR TOURISTS, RESEARCH

"If we hit a stumbling block technically and we have to invest some money to get past that, that's SpaceX money that gets spent so we have skin in the game. We have a real incentive to keep it cost-effective," said Reisman.

Beyond ferrying U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station, companies would be able to sell flight services to tourists, businesses and research organizations.

NASA has not yet decided whether it wants to lease new spaceships for its astronauts like a rental car or buy rides like a taxi service. Any future providers will need to prove safety and reliability, most likely with their own employees.

As NASA awaits the rollout of approved commercial vehicles -- not expected before 2015 -- it will buy rides to the space station on Russia's Soyuz craft.

NASA's commercial space initiative has drawn strong rebukes from some of its traditional supporters in Congress and longtime aerospace contractors.

"The main thing that people are fighting over right now in this whole commercial thing is the ability to preserve money for their companies and I believe it's really an ugly side of the business," said Ken Bowersox, another former astronaut also working for SpaceX.

Bowersox, a veteran of five shuttle flights and a long-duration stint on the station, is particularly sensitive to accusations the new commercial ships will not be as safe as NASA-owned vehicles.

"When people start to throw out the 'Oh, we need to protect our astronauts' card, I usually start looking for my wallet and seeing what else they're trying to take from me, because what they're really after is money," Bowersox said.

"If they were really worried about astronaut safety, I can tell you they'd be worrying about different things than what they complain about."

Being able to provide safe and reliable transportation to and from space is just as important for the companies as it is for NASA, Reisman said.

"Your business case is really, really bad if your rocket doesn't work," he said.

Before buying rides for astronauts, NASA is testing the commercial concept with cargo deliveries. SpaceX, which debuted its cargo-version Dragon capsule in December, and aerospace company Orbital Sciences Corp plan to begin freighter flights to the space station next year.

(Editing by Tom Brown and John O'Callaghan)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[alkh3myst]

05:27 PM on 07/10/2011

All part of the privatization of space. Now, each astronaut will pay the discounted business class fare of $11.5 million on boarding. This fare includes complimentary air. As a $2 million upgrade, astronauts will be furnished with seats. First class passengers will have seats WITH safety harnesses. As expected, coach passengers will be strapped to the hull and told, "Good luck!".

[Eagleman]

09:28 PM on 07/08/2011

JFK pledge to send the man to the moon

BO shuts it down...

Interesting

[tiredofthesameoldstuff]

05:50 PM on 07/09/2011

NASA has been on life support for a long time. It's just 20 billion a year.

[French Toast]

10:36 AM on 07/10/2011

Anyone who calls the President "BO" is also the type who moans about private sector solutions and cutting government.

Hyper-partisan Republicans are a can cer on America.

[WilliePilgrim]

04:47 PM on 07/08/2011

I think there is much to said for letting the power of private industry apply itself to the potential of space. While the current focus is on maintaining access to low earth orbit, the motherlode of energy and materials lies just beyond that and out where a truly appropriate scaled and truly permanent space platform could be constructed and from which we could create the apparatus needed for both continued exploration and exploitation of resources such as solar energy and the kinds of elements our growing material culture now extracts here on the surface of Earth. Our current launch systems however are simply too small for the task. Instead of rockets originally designed to hurl ballistic missiles, constructed so that they could be pieced together and moved around by truck on our highway system we should be thinking in terms of far fewer vehicles and of far greater size on the scale of modern cruise ships, using far less complicated technology; more durable, reusable, and multi-purposed. Ironically these current systems, while smaller are also too expensive. It takes more money to make a swiss watch than it does to make tractor and a space ship ten times as big doesn't cost ten times as much. Economy of scale...get on it!

[French Toast]

10:38 AM on 07/10/2011

I read something interesting lately.

http://blog.chron.com/finalmission/2011/07/spacex-tries-to-offer-an-answer-for-the-future/

"A launch pad acoustics buffer could have cost millions, by the Air Force’s estimates, instead cost SpaceX $60,000, Henderson said. A spherical tank for storing liquid oxygen fuel was purchased for $1 above scrap value, he said. “It’s all about thinking differently,” Henderson said."

No wonder contractors are pissed.