{"id":15784,"date":"2016-01-14T22:21:43","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T14:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-splits-space-station-cargo-deal-three-ways-2\/"},"modified":"2016-01-14T22:21:43","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T14:21:43","slug":"nasa-splits-space-station-cargo-deal-three-ways-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-splits-space-station-cargo-deal-three-ways-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA splits space station cargo deal three ways"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated with quotes and details after NASA press conference.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"crs_feature\"
Orbital ATK\u2019s Cygnus cargo freighter, Sierra Nevada\u2019s Dream Chaser, and SpaceX\u2019s Dragon supply ship will carry equipment to and from the International Space Station under contracts announced Thursday. Credit: NASA\/Sierra Nevada Corp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An unpiloted space plane developed by Sierra Nevada Corp. will join cargo carriers built by SpaceX and Orbital ATK to resupply the International Space Station beginning in 2019, NASA announced Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Dream Chaser spaceship, originally conceived to carry astronauts, can deliver up to 12,000 pounds \u2014 5,500 kilograms \u2014 to the space station per trip, then detach and return to Earth for a runway landing like the space shuttle.<\/p>\n

Sierra Nevada\u2019s lifting body spacecraft has never flown in orbit, and the company aims to drop the craft from a helicopter for an approach and landing demonstration in the coming months.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s current cargo transportation providers, SpaceX and Orbital ATK, also received new contracts Thursday, giving the space station three U.S. resupply carriers operating alongside Russia\u2019s Progress logistics freighter and Japan\u2019s HTV cargo ship.<\/p>\n

The cargo flights covered by the new agreements will begin in 2019, and the contracts have options for missions extending through 2024, the space station\u2019s current projected retirement date.<\/p>\n

NASA signed the agency\u2019s previous commercial cargo contracts with SpaceX and Orbital ATK in December 2008, and those Commercial Resupply Services \u2014 or CRS-1 \u2014 agreements have been extended to meet the space station\u2019s supply needs through 2018.<\/p>\n

The space agency turned to commercial providers to haul supplies to the space station after the retirement of the space shuttle, and NASA plans to debut new commercially-owned crew capsules developed Boeing and SpaceX to transport astronauts to and from the orbiting research lab in 2017.<\/p>\n

NASA officials said Thursday they chose three companies to expand their options when routing experiments, crew provisions and other hardware between Earth and the space station.<\/p>\n

\"Artist's
Artist\u2019s concept of Sierra Nevada\u2019s Dream Chaser, which includes an expendable cargo module and a reusable space plane. Credit: Sierra Nevada Corp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOne of the considerations from an operational standpoint with ISS is it\u2019s really important to have more than one supply chain, and mulitple offerers means that at any given time, the sequence of flights could be one Sierra Nevada, Space, Orbital ATK, so if you lose one, you have the ability for another one being right after it from a dissimilar redundancy, or a different supplier, so that\u2019s a big help to us,\u201d said Kirk Shireman, NASA\u2019s International Space Station program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.<\/p>\n

Orbital ATK and SpaceX had launch failures in October 2014 and June 2015, grounding their Cygnus and Dragon supply ships for months. Orbital ATK purchased two United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flights to keep flying the Cygnus spacecraft while the company\u2019s Antares booster is grounded.<\/p>\n

SpaceX has resumed flying its Falcon 9 rocket after its launch mishap, and the next Dragon cargo mission to the space station is scheduled for no sooner than March, nine months after last year\u2019s failure.<\/p>\n

Sam Scimemi, director of the space station\u2019s division office at NASA Headquarters, said the agency learned lessons from the first round of cargo contracts cinched in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has not been easy by any measure,\u201d Scimemi said. \u201cBoth our CRS-1 providers have experienced launch failures and are in the process of recovering. NASA and our industry partners have learned valuable lessons from these failures and the recovery to flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

SpaceX and Orbital ATK have carried a combined 35,000 pounds of gear to the space station since commercial flights to the outpost began in 2012, Scimemi said.<\/p>\n

The fresh cargo contracts, which go into effect immediately, have an aggregate value of up to $14 billion. Tenets of the deals allow NASA to order additional missions beyond each company\u2019s six guaranteed flights as needed until the total cost reaches $14 billion, and Shireman said the space station\u2019s actual cargo requirements will almost certainly fall short of the cap.<\/p>\n

NASA can procure the add-on cargo flights based on price, capability, past performance and other factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contract has a minimum of six missions per selectee, so in that sense, everyone is going to get the minimum,\u201d Shireman said. \u201cIt is likely we will buy more than 18 flights, so we have three winners, and if we need more than 18 flights, then we\u2019ll talk about what happens on those flights.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA did not disclose the value of each contractor\u2019s base award for six cargo missions, but Orbital ATK said in a press release its six initial flights are valued at $1.2-$1.5 billion. Sierra Nevada and SpaceX did not provide financial figures for their agreements.<\/p>\n

In a change from the previous cargo contracts, NASA requested bidders to offer different types of mission scenarios to give space station managers flexibility in ordering a cargo flight to match the needs of the moment.<\/p>\n

Orbital ATK\u2019s Cygnus spacecraft currently primarily launches aboard the company\u2019s internally-developed Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia. Company leaders billed the switch to ULA\u2019s Atlas 5 as a temporary fix while the Antares booster prepares to resume launches later this year.<\/p>\n

\"Orbital
Orbital ATK\u2019s Cygnus cargo ship arrives at the International Space Station on Dec. 9 after liftoff aboard an Atlas 5 rocket. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Shireman, Orbital ATK submitted a proposal offering three types of mission \u2014 two with delivery and disposal of pressurized cargo like food, spare parts and small experiments, and one to take up and get rid of large units and instruments mounted outside the space station. NASA can also decide whether they want to launch the missions aboard Orbital ATK\u2019s Antares rocket from Virginia or ULA\u2019s Atlas 5 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy utilizing the flexibility of our Cygnus spacecraft, combined with a mixed fleet of launch vehicles, Orbital ATK is providing NASA a complete portfolio of mission options to fulfill their cargo delivery needs,\u201d said Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK\u2019s space systems group.<\/p>\n

Sierra Nevada outlined two mission scenarios, both with the ability to haul internal and external cargo to the space station, dispose of trash, and return supplies to the Earth intact inside the Dream Chaser\u2019s pressurized compartment.<\/p>\n

NASA has the option for the Dream Chaser to directly dock to the space station or be captured with the lab\u2019s robotic arm. Each technique has benefits, with dockings permitting the space plane to reboost the space station\u2019s orbit, while the capture and berth method allows astronauts to transfer equipment through a larger hatch on the outpost\u2019s Harmony or Unity modules.<\/p>\n

The Dream Chaser will launch on ULA\u2019s Atlas 5 rocket, employing the launcher\u2019s 500-series configuration with a 5.4-meter (17.7-foot) fairing.<\/p>\n

\"File
File photo of a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule approaching the International Space Station. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shireman said SpaceX\u2019s bid included options, too.<\/p>\n

Like the Dream Chaser, SpaceX\u2019s Dragon cargo ship could dock or be grasped by the space station\u2019s robotic arm, he said. SpaceX also proposed landings of the Dragon cargo capsule in the ocean or on land.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to decide which type of mission do we need at any given time,\u201d Shireman told reporters Thursday. \u201cPrice will be a factor, but it\u2019s only one of many, many factors. It\u2019s not like going and buying gas from a gas station, where you just find the cheapest one and go buy it. It\u2019s much more complicated than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shireman said the new crop of upgraded cargo carriers will deliver heavier loads to the space station than existing U.S. commercial vehicles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CRS-2 vehicles allow the delivery of a larger amount of cargo in a single flight,\u201d Shireman said. \u201cBasically, it reduces the total number of missions. That\u2019s important for a couple of reasons. One is it\u2019s more efficient in terms of our crew time, and that\u2019s a precious resource aboard the ISS. When the crew is unpacking and repacking cargo, that\u2019s time they\u2019re not spending doing the research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated with quotes and details after NASA press conference. Orbital ATK\u2019s Cygnus cargo freighter, Sierra Nevada\u2019s Dream Chaser, and SpaceX\u2019s Dragon supply ship will carry equipment to and from the International Space Station under contracts announced Thursday. Credit: NASA\/Sierra Nevada Corp. An unpiloted space plane developed by Sierra Nevada Corp. will join cargo carriers built […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[639,1395,970,717,1602,302,2899,2397],"class_list":["post-15784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-cygnus","tag-dragon","tag-dream-chaser","tag-international-space-station","tag-iss-cargo","tag-johnson-space-center","tag-orbital-atk","tag-sierra-nevada"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15784"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}