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WASHINGTON – NASA is seeking proposals for a program to support the development of commercial space stations, even as funding for that effort is threatened in Congress.
NASA issued a request for proposals on July 12 for its Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development, or CLD, program. The effort, announced earlier this year, will provide funding for initial studies of commercial space stations that could ultimately be used by NASA and other clients. Proposals are due to the agency on August 26.
NASA plans to award between two and four Space Act agreements to support these studies, with up to $ 400 million available for fiscal years 2022 to 2025. NASA predicts that a second phase of the program will begin in 2026, where the The agency would certify commercial space stations for use by NASA payloads and astronauts.
The CLD program is part of NASA’s broader LEO commercialization strategy, linked to its plans to transition from the International Space Station to one or more commercial stations. This process is expected to take a decade, given NASA and Congress’ interest in continuing ISS operations until the 2020s.
“I think this will be the third leg of the stool in low earth orbit” with the commercial cargo and crew, said Phil McAlister, director of commercial space flight development at NASA Headquarters, Commercial Space Stations during a session of the American Astronautical Society. Glenn Memorial Symposium July 13. “The three pieces of this infrastructure need to be in commercial hands so you can see these synergistic relationships between those three pieces and the costs go down. “
These future commercial stations, he admitted, will not be as large or as capable as the ISS, at least initially. “In terms of search volume, I expect it to decrease,” he said, given the size of the ISS. Future commercial stations, he said, will likely start out smaller but expand as needed to meet demand. “It’s a very attractive model. You don’t have to pay a lot for infrastructure unless you actually use it.
NASA, however, continues to face an uphill battle to secure congressional support and funding for its LEO commercialization strategy. The agency requested $ 150 million in fiscal 2020 and 2021, but only received $ 15 million and $ 17 million, respectively.
House owners, in a report released on July 14 accompanying their version of a 2022 fiscal year trade, justice and science spending bill, cut the program again. NASA has requested $ 101.1 million for LEO’s business development, but the House bill offers less than half of that amount, $ 45 million.
“The Committee is concerned that NASA does not have clear goals and measures for the transition away from the International Space Station,” officials said in the report. They are asking NASA to conduct a study on its ISS transition plans, including future requirements for a continued human presence in LEO and review of industry capabilities.
“Such a report should also discuss expectations for how NASA will maintain its global leadership in space science research in the absence of a station owned and operated by NASA,” the owners said.
The entire House appropriations committee is expected to mark this expenditure bill on July 15 and send it to the entire House. Senate officials have yet to come up with their own version of the 2022 spending bill.
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