I'm happy they're finally helping out the commercial projects. I
think SpaceX in particular can do an awful lot more for the dollar
than the big boys, and that no matter how big the slice of the pie on
the money side is, the slice on the outputs side will be bigger.

On 8/20/06, markreiff <no_reply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> FYI,
>
> "SpaceX, Rocketplane Win Spaceship Contest
> - $485 million to be doled out for new ways to resupply space
> station"
> MSNBC
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14411983/from/ET
>
> : Two aerospace teams headed by SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler will
> : share almost half a billion dollars set aside for demonstrations
> : of new spaceships capable of transporting cargo and crew between
> : Earth and the international space station, NASA announced Friday.
>
> : The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, or COTS,
> : marks a dramatic departure in the way NASA does business and could
> : give a boost to the nascent private-sector space race — including
> : space tourism for paying passengers.
>
> : Critics of NASA's traditional approach to spaceship development,
> : on the other hand, tend to see COTS and similar initiatives as the
> : space agency's best hope. "If anything's going to get us out of
> : this hole, it is this new entrepreneurial spirit," Jerry
> : Pournelle, a science-fiction author who also served as a space
> : policy adviser to the Reagan administration, told MSNBC.com.
>
> : With the rise of less expensive rockets, "we will see human
> : transportation to low Earth orbit become more of a reality in the
> : next four or five years," said Will Trafton, executive vice
> : president for business development at Rocketplane Kistler.
>
> : Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and chief executive officer, told
> : MSNBC.com that "this is going to be the best value for money that
> : NASA and the American taxpayers have ever received."
>
> : COTS is different in that NASA will be merely "investing" in
> : projects primarily supported by the private sector, with quarterly
> : payments made as the development teams reach technical and
> : financial milestones through the end of 2009. The final milestones
> : call for three test flights, including an unmanned flight to the
> : space station itself, said Alan Lindenmoyer, commercial crew/cargo
> : project manager at NASA.
>
> : The spaceships developed with NASA's support could well help fill
> : the gap between the scheduled 2010 retirement of the shuttle fleet
> : and the start of CEV flights in the 2012-2014 time frame.
>
> : When the first phase of the COTS program runs out in 2010, NASA
> : says it will conduct another competition for pay-as-you-go
> : contracts to resupply the space station. Officials have compared
> : it to renting a moving van rather than having one custom-built for
> : your exclusive use. Such "vans" can be used for non-NASA purposes
> : as well, ranging from private-passenger joy rides to commercial
> : research flights.
>
> : The applicants for those future NASA contracts are likely to
> : include Friday's winners, but would also be open to other COTS
> : competitors that were passed over.
>
> : California-based SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies, has
> : been developing a line of Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets, as well
> : as its Dragon capsule for cargo and crew.
>
> : If SpaceX hits all of NASA's milestones, its team would receive
> : $278 million, Lindenmoyer said. He said SpaceX's proposal was
> : particularly attractive because its launch vehicle could be
> : recovered and refurbished — and eventually could be fully reusable.
>
> : Musk said the Falcon/Dragon system could be used to resupply the
> : space station as well as take passengers to private-sector space
> : complexes such as those currently being tested by Bigelow
> : Aerospace. "We expect Bigelow to be a significant customer along
> : the road," he said.
>
> : That meshes with NASA's intentions, he said: "NASA really wants us
> : to find markets outside just them in manned spaceflight."
>
> : Musk declined to say precisely how much the Falcon/Dragon flights
> : would cost on a per-pound or per-flight basis, but was confident
> : his team could bring down the cost of access to space dramatically.
>
> : "We expect to be quite a bit more cost-effective than Soyuz, and
> : as you know, Soyuz is 6 or 7 percent of the cost of the space
> : shuttle," Musk told MSNBC.com.
>
> : Oklahoma-based Rocketplane Kistler, meanwhile, plans to adapt the
> : Kistler K-1 reusable launch vehicle — which has been under
> : development for years by Kistler Aerospace but has never flown.
> : Rocketplane acquired financially troubled Kistler just this year,
> : specifically to go after the COTS money.
>
> : Rocketplane has been working on a suborbital spaceship that could
> : be ready for flight in 2008, and Trafton said the first Kistler
> : K-1 orbital rocket could lift off from Australia in late 2008. He
> : said his company was looking into developing a Cape Canaveral
> : launch site as well, and studying the design for a crew-capable
> : vehicle that would fit atop the K-1. The crew vehicle could enter
> : service in the 2011-2012 time frame, he said.
>
> : For example, Musk said SpaceX would invest $200 million in the
> : Falcon/Dragon program — on top of the $100 million he already has
> : spent on the Falcon 1. Trafton declined to provide a specific
> : figure but said Rocketplane's contribution would exceed NASA's on
> : a 2-to-1 basis — implying an investment of more than $400 million.
>
> : It's possible that someone could "come out of left field" and win
> : a Phase 2 contract even though they didn't receive NASA money in
> : Phase 1, he said. That means the four other finalists in the
> : Phase 1 competition could still be in the running in 2010. Those
> : also-rans included:
>
> : - Texas-based Spacehab, which built research modules for the space
> : shuttle. Spacehab offered its Apex line of spacecraft for the COTS
> : competition. Its partners included Adam Aircraft, The Aerospace
> : Corp., Emergent Space Technologies, Oceaneering and BAE Systems
> : National Security Solutions.
>
> : - The Virginia-based t/Space consortium, which has been working on
> : a Crew Transfer Vehicle, or CXV. The consortium includes
> : AirLaunch, Constellation Services International, Orion Propulsion,
> : Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute and RedZone
> : Robotics, Universal Space Lines — and Scaled Composites, which
> : built the SpaceShipOne rocket plane.
>
> : - California-based SpaceDev, which worked on SpaceShipOne's hybrid
> : rocket engine and proposed its Dream Chaser mini-shuttle concept.
> : Its partners included Adam Aircraft, The Aerospace Corp., Emergent
> : Space Technologies, Oceaneering and BAE Systems National Security
> : Solutions.
>
> : - Andrews Space of Seattle, which already has received an Air
> : Force contract to flesh out a Hybrid Launch Vehicle concept.
> : All the finalists said that they would pursue their spaceship
> : projects even if they didn't share in the $500 million from NASA.
>
> Mark Reiff
>
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