a call for proposals for the second phase of the CLD program<\/a>, where NASA would provide additional funding for development and demonstration of those stations ahead of purchasing services from them.<\/p>\nThe intent of the CLD program was for NASA to be one customer of many for those stations, with companies and other space agencies also using those facilities. But at the Ignition event, agency officials said they were increasingly concerned that the business case for those stations was not closing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThough we have seen investor interest, there\u2019s no independently verifiable market research indicating the economic viability of a commercial station that is only partially funded by NASA,\u201d Dana Weigel, NASA ISS program manager, said in a presentation.<\/p>\n
The projected market, she said later, has not emerged as fast as originally projected.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany years ago, when we started this program, the data we had was that we\u2019re 10 years away from a mature market,\u201d she said. \u201cAs we\u2019ve watched over time, these independent market research surveys continue to tell us it\u2019s about that far out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another concern is the lack of resources by the companies to handle the \u201cincredibly complicated\u201d logistics and operations of a space station, argued NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, the current industry that we have that\u2019s proposing to build destinations does not have direct experience with that, or the resources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A constrained budget, he added, makes it impossible for NASA to provide greater support to companies under the current approach. \u201cIn the absence of a mature market, and then in the current budget we\u2019ve been allocated, we cannot fund a path of two stations. It\u2019s a challenge even fund one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original path that we had laid out is fraught with a lot of high risks,\u201d Weigel said.<\/p>\n
NASA plans to seek input from industry on two approaches. One would continue the agency\u2019s current plans with CLD, but the other would involve NASA taking a larger role in supporting development of a commercial space station.<\/p>\n
In the latter approach, NASA would procure a core module that would be attached to the ISS. It would provide basic services such as power, propulsion and life support, as well as several docking ports. Additional commercial modules could be attached to those ports.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, that core module and commercial modules would detach from the ISS as a standalone commercial station, potentially taking with it some ISS modules.<\/p>\n
\u201cA NASA-procured core would serve as a hub for commercial module expansion, allowing for maturation of industry and continued demand growth after the station detaches from ISS,\u201d Weigel said.<\/p>\n
A decade ago, NASA said it would offer an ISS port for use by a commercial module as a precursor to a standalone space station. NASA awarded that docking port to Axiom Space in 2020, which plans to use it for a core module it is developing for its own commercial space station.<\/p>\n
Weigel said the core module NASA is proposing is \u201cnot aligned with any one vendor\u201d like Axiom Space. \u201cMy hope is that there\u2019s a lot of broad interest in the core module overall, and I think there are a lot of capabilities that are in design, on their way, and are applicable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agency wants to move quickly on that alternative approach. Based on feedback NASA gets from the request for information, a draft request for proposals for the core module could be ready in a few months, she said.<\/p>\n
NASA would supplement that core module with other efforts to stimulate commercial demand. That includes increasing the number of private astronaut missions to the ISS from one to two per year and allowing companies to sell the seat currently reserved for the mission\u2019s commander. That could include selling the seat to NASA for an agency astronaut to fly on such missions.<\/p>\n
Officials made clear they had no intent to extend the life of the ISS indefinitely. NASA\u2019s current plans call for the ISS to be retired in 2030 and deorbited, although a Senate NASA authorization bill would extend the station\u2019s life to 2032<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cIt is still our job to pivot and go move to transitioning to space stations that are commercially owned and commercial operated in 2030,\u201d Weigel said. \u201cOur overall goal has not changed at all. We are just trying to change the approach to an incremental one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one here is trying to make the case of keeping ISS up until the end of time,\u201d said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. \u201cThe idea is to make the transition the right way, and we have to put everything out on the table on this one right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 NASA, concerned about slow development of commercial markets, is considering revamping its strategy for supporting the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[57088,408,92,90,1957,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-494614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-commercial-leo-destinations","tag-iss","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-sn","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}