Nasa commercial orbital transportation services program

NASA challenged the U. Unlike any previous NASA project, the proposed spacecraft are intended to be owned and financed primarily by the companies themselves and will be designed to serve both U. NASA will contract for missions as its needs become clear.

This is more challenging than existent commercial space transportation because it requires precision orbit insertion, rendezvous and possibly docking with another spacecraft. COTS does not involve binding contracts an agreement in writing between two or more individuals or entities in which a court can impose penalties in the event one party attempts to negate on his or her promise as set forth in the signed document.

CRS on the other hand does involve legally binding contracts, which means the suppliers would be liable if they failed to perform. Finally, Commercial Crew Development CCDev is a related program, aimed specifically at developing crew rotation services. The Agency enters into SAAs with various partners to advance NASA mission and program objectives, including international cooperative space activities.

While NASA funded Alt Access no further than preliminary studies, this program convinced numerous entrepreneurs that ISS could emerge as a significant market opportunity. After years of keeping orbital transport for human spaceflight in-house, NASA concluded that firms in a free market could develop and operate such a system more efficiently and affordably than a government bureaucracy.

I believe that the ISS provides a tremendous opportunity to promote commercial space ventures that will help us meet our exploration objectives and at the same time create new jobs and new industry. The clearly identifiable market provided by the ISS is that for regular cargo delivery and return, and crew rotation, especially after we retire the shuttle in , but earlier should the capability become available. We want to be able to buy these services from American industry to the fullest extent possible.

We believe that when we engage the engine of competition, these services will be provided in a more cost-effective fashion than when the government has to do it. NASA does not have a preferred solution. Commercial Crew Development Commercial Crew Development is a NASA investment that will aid in the development and demonstration of safe, reliable, and cost-effective space transportation capabilities.

NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program is investing financial and technical resources to stimulate efforts within the private sector to develop and demonstrate safe, reliable, and cost-effective space transportation capabilities. SpaceX aims to change the space paradigm by developing a family of launch vehicles which will ultimately reduce the cost and increase the reliability of space access by a factor of ten.

Founded in , the company has pioneered new classes of rockets, satellites and other space-based technologies that help make the benefits of space more affordable, accessible and useful to millions of people on Earth. Skip to main content.