POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL SPACE OPPORTUNITIES DISCUSSION

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POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL SPACE OPPORTUNITIES
DISCUSSION Ames Commercial Spac
e BioTech Workshop Brant Sponberg, PE (Acting)
Exploration Systems Mission Directorate NASA
Headquarters October 6, 2005
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Potential Commercial Space Opportunities Overview
Discuss Potential Near-Term Commercial Space
Mission Opportunities Marry emergent space market
s with emergent launch capabilities
proofs of concept that commercial sector will
organize and pay for space research
with on-ramps and markets for new launch service
providers Assumes NASA only provides initial laun
ch and/or microgravity environment data
Assumes private sector pays for everything else
researchers, experiments, spacecraft buses,
integration, operation, data analysis, and future
launches Execute in 2-3 years with easy repeatabi
lity pathfinders for regular, routine, affordable
access to microgravity environments
Two Potential Pathfinders New suborbital launch
vehicles FALCON program orbital launch Just T
esting the Waters Today Coordination with DARPA a
nd launch providers are next steps
May find showstoppers not aware of today
Need Your Informal Feedback Are these opportuni
ties worth pursuing? Or should we focus our effor
ts elsewhere? More Work To Be Done Formal inpu
ts (such as RFI) Solicitations (such as RFPs or O
TA solicitations) Selection criteria (TBD)
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New Suborbital Launch Services
New Suborbital Launch Vehicles May Enable New
Class of Microgravity Experiments
X PRIZE has stimulated development of reusable
rockets with 100km ballistic trajectories
Potential 3-5 minutes of microgravity on
suborbital launch versus 30 seconds on vomit
comet Potential very low cost versus orbital lau
nch 10K-100Ks per suborbital launch versus 10
M-100Ms per orbital launch Potential high repeat
ability reusable nature of vehicles could enable
research campaigns across multiple launches
But quality of microgravity environment is
unknown key is obtaining baseline data for resear
chers (milli- or micro-Newtons?)
Potential Approach RFI to formally solicit inte
rest from suborbital launch providers and
commercial payload providers RFP to suborbital la
unch providers Base Purchase launch for NASA in
strument to measure vehicles microgravity
environment Options Additional launches for NAS
A or other researchers if vehicles capabilities
are of interest Solicitation for Space Act Agreem
ents with commercial payload providers
Using options, NASA pays for set number of
launches on top of microgravity data (est.
20K-200K value) Commercial payload providers p
ay for their researchers, payload, integration,
operations, data analysis, and any additional
required flights IP remains with commercial paylo
ad providers Key Issues Worth pursuing? NASA
make vehicle microgravity data available to
anyone? Selection criteria for Space Act Agreemen
t solicitation? Limit to commercial biotech resea
rch or allow other markets to propose?
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FALCON Program Orbital Launch
NASA Has Paid For One Small Vehicle Launch From
DARPAs FALCON Program Several companies competin
g to develop responsive, affordable spacelift for
small payloads Nominal capability of 200-1000 lbs
to 450 miles at 79 degree inclination
(sun-synchronous) Launch in the 2008 timeframe
Estimated 5-10M value Could offer launch to co
mmercial payload providers Potential Approach
Solicitation for Space Act Agreements with
commercial payload providers NASA pays for DARPA
FALCON launch Commercial payload provider(s) pay
for their researchers, experiments, spacecraft
bus, integration, operations, data analysis, and
any additional required flights
Commercial payload provider(s) interface with
launch provider after selection
IP remains with commercial payload provider(s)
Key Issues Worth pursuing? Selection criteria
for Space Act Agreement solicitation?
Limit to commercial biotech research or other
markets?