Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NASA Picks 5 Firms To Work On LEO Tech

Posted by timothy on from the quasi-private-at-best dept.

Gary W. Longsine writes "Five contracts have been awarded by NASA today, to firms exploring different aspects of the effort to develop a private launch industry for people to low earth orbit. Today's winners include: Sierra Nevada Corp (aka 'SpaceDev') for the Dream Chaser; Boeing in cooperation with Bigelow on a capsule design; United Launch Alliance (Boeing and Lockheed Martin) to explore safety issues related to upgrading Atlas and Delta rockets to human flight safety standards; Blue Origin to build a launch escape system; and Paragon Space Development Corp for 'air vitalization' (aka life support). Will the forecast $6 Billion allocation over five years be enough to inspire private industry to develop not one, but two human rated launch systems (a capsule, and the lifting body Dream Chaser)? NASA clearly wants competition in the private market, so they seek more than one vendor."

3 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. Same wolf different clothing by assemblerex · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Billion dollar companies will buy up these small entities and we'll be back to $2billion launches in no time...

    1. Re:Same wolf different clothing by khallow · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Billion dollar companies will buy up these small entities and we'll be back to $2billion launches in no time...

      And the people that created a new launch business are amply rewarded. Existence of an exit strategy, even if it's just getting bought out by a big player trying to maintain an oligopoly, is a necessary precondition for venture capital funding.

  2. That was the Falcon 1 by mosb1000 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You mean Falcon 1. Right now Space X is working on the Falcon 9 for launch this year. They are working with much smaller $ amounts than these 5 companies, but they're not working on human launches either.

    I agree that it would be need to see a man-rated version of the F9, but I think NASA wants to focus on rockets that are available now rather than rockets that aren't yet available.