Sierra Nevada to Develop Ground Prototype Deep Space Main Habitat
Sierra Nevada Corporation Signs Two NextSTEP-2 Contracts with NASA, Sierra Nevada Corporation
“Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has formalized its agreement with NASA under Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2), signing a contract to design and develop a prototype for a deep space habitat. The formal signing of the contract under NextSTEP Broad Agency Announcement, Appendix A: Habitat Systems, aimed at enabling potential long-duration human missions in deep space, clears the way for actual production of SNC’s prototype in the coming months.”
Well. As someone who finds the reasoning behind the need for a permanent deep space platform unconvincing, this at least is a sane development.
Bob Bigelow has to have his cowboy boots up on his desk, lauging his a** off, thinking of all his fruitless trips to Washington over the past 18 years. And his behind the scenes efforts before he finally just bought the tech, bringing it under his own control.
So here we are, $100B later, plus – what? – more than a decade of costs later, at several billion each?
“I told them sumbitches!”