NASA Commercial LEO Destinations project for private space stations

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration marked two decades of continuous astronauts aboard the International Space Station last year. But as the floating research lab ages, the space agency is turning to private companies to build and deploy new free-flying habitats in low Earth orbit.

NASA unveiled the Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) project last week, with plans to allocate up to $ 400 million to as many as four companies by the fourth quarter of 2021 to begin development on private space stations.

The agency is trying to replicate the success of its commercial cargo and commercial crew programs. Those programs saw three companies taking over NASA as a means of sending cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.

NASA Commercial LEO Director Phil McAlister said he thinks the low Earth orbit domain encompasses three main activities: “Freight transportation, crew transportation, and destinations.” NASA has transferred responsibility for the previous two activities to private companies, with the agency paying SpaceX and Northrop Grumman to send cargo spacecraft to the ISS, as well as SpaceX and Boeing to launch astronauts. McAlister emphasized that NASA previously had full ownership of all three activities.

“If it always stayed that way, our low Earth orbit ambitions would always be constrained by the size of NASA’s budget,” McAlister said in a briefing Tuesday. “By bringing the private sector into these sections and into these areas, as suppliers and users, you expand the pot and have more people in low Earth orbit.”

The potential cost savings of NASA being a space station user, rather than an owner and operator, is a major driver for the CLD program. The International Space Station costs NASA about $ 4 billion a year to operate. In addition, the ISS cost a total of $ 150 billion to develop and build, with NASA taking most of that bill, with Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada each contributing.

NASA estimated last year that the Commercial Crew program alone saved the agency between $ 20 billion and $ 30 billion, while funding the development of two spacecraft instead of just one. While Boeing has yet to complete development tests and suffered a protracted setback after the Starliner capsule’s initial launch failed in December 2019 due to multiple anomalies, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is now operational with NASA astronauts.

Another impetus for starting the CLD program is the aging ISS hardware, as many of the space station’s core structures were manufactured in the 1990s and the final structure was added under pressure in 2011. Last year, Russian cosmonauts worked to rework stop a small air leak in a room. drive module.

“The ISS is a great system, but unfortunately it won’t last forever,” said McAlister. “It can experience an irreversible anomaly at any time.”

NASA sees the CLD program as a way for multiple companies to develop and build new habitats over the next few years, so that the agency has an overlap period before the ISS retires. McAlister noted that, separate from the CLD program, NASA has awarded spaceflight specialist Axiom Space a $ 140 million contract to build modules that can be added to the ISS. When the ISS retires, Axiom plans to disconnect its modules and turn it into a free-flying space station.

“We’re making progress there and we’re very happy with that,” said McAlister. “We would like to have competition in the delivery area, which is why we do that [CLD]It’s always been part of our plan to connect modules as well as have free flyers. “

An Axiom spokesman said in a statement to CNBC that the company “broadly supports NASA’s vision of a multi-faceted economy in LEO.”

“We are raising private funding to design and develop our first commercial destination in the world to demonstrate that true commercial leadership can advance the LEO economy. By building Axiom Station as an extension of the International Space Station, the work that can will be made to the station in the short term, ensuring a timely and seamless transition when the ISS reaches its end of life, ”said Axiom.

A NASA list of organizations registered for the briefing revealed a wide variety of aerospace companies, including: Airbus US, Blue Origin, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, Firefly Aerospace, General Dynamics, ispace, Lockheed Martin, Moog, Nanoracks, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Redwire Space, RUAG Space, Sierra Nevada Corporation, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Orbit, Voyager Space Holdings, and York Space Systems.

One of those companies has already announced that it will soon unveil its plan for a free-flying space station. Sierra Nevada Corporation, or SNC, said it will host a virtual press conference on March 31 to unveil the design of the “SNC Space Station.”

NASA will release a final announcement for CLD proposals in May, with the first phase of granting funding expected between October and December. NASA’s Johnson Space Center will manage the CLD program through its commercial LEO development office.