NASA Finally Starts To Talk About Its ISS Commercial Plans
Study Input Informs NASA Course for a Vibrant Future Commercial Space Economy
“New insights from companies in the growing space economy are helping NASA chart a course for the future of commercial human spaceflight in low-Earth orbit. Input the companies provided to NASA as part of the studies will inform NASA’s future policies to support commercial activities that enable a robust low-Earth orbit economy. NASA selected the following companies to complete studies about the commercialization of low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station, assessing the potential growth of a low-Earth orbit economy and how to best stimulate private demand for commercial human spaceflight.”
Summaries of each company’s proposals
Keith’s note: I got a note with these links from NASA HQ PAO today after I had been tweeting complaints about an ISS presentation by Robyn Gatens and Sam Scimemi at the NAC HEO committee today. Up until today NASA had only made hints as to what the studies they asked for actually said. Oddly neither Gatens or Scimemi made any mention that this material had been publicly released. PAO knows more about ISS commercialization than the ISS program senior management does, so it would seem. Also, if you go to the CASIS webpage they make no mention of any of these things.
It will be interesting to see the results.
They can have all the companies they want talking all they want about how they will commercialize LEO, but as long as they make it as difficult, time consuming, and expensive to do anything in space very few will want to work there. NASA and NASA contractors, including Boeing and its predecessors have been talking about commercializing ISS, Shuttle, LEO, etc for the last 40 years and it has barely happened yet because they have so far done a really poor job.
But as NASA contractors what incentive do they have to do a good job? A private firm has to hustle to find business or they go out of business. But a lack of commercial customers doesn’t seem to have any impact on NASA funding or its contractors so there is zero incentive to really promote it. I guess if someone comes pounding on their door they will give them a form to fill out to see if they want to do business with them, but that isn’t how marketing works.
In Congressional testimony, here is what Andrew Rush (CEO of Made In Space)said:
“Without the ISS, I would be buying a ride from some of these fine gentleman’s companies at orders of magnitudes greater costs which for a commercial entity might not be possible…
“But we can’t jump from making a little bit of money or no money to paying for a significant portion of his module or anyone’s facility because the math just doesn’t quite solve.”