SpaceX, Rocketplane Kistler win COTS awards
Posted: Fri, Aug 18, 2006, 9:09 PM ET (0109 GMT)
NASA announced Friday afternoon that it has signed agreements with SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) that will provide the two companies with funding to help them develop vehicles that could service the International Space Station. The two companies will split nearly $500 million from NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program, an effort by NASA to develop commercial vehicles to ferry cargo and crew to and from the ISS. SpaceX, which proposed developing the Dragon capsule launched on its Falcon 9 rocket under development, will receive $278 million, while RpK, which proposed a version of the K-1 RLV that the company's predecessor, Kistler Aerospace, developed in the 1990s, will get $207 million. The funding, which runs through the end of the decade, is contingent on the companies meeting a series of milestones as they develop their vehicles. Both companies plan to supplement the NASA money with private funding. The two companies beat out four other finalists to win the awards; 20 companies originally submitted proposals for the COTS effort.
NASA announced Friday afternoon that it has signed agreements with SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) that will provide the two companies with funding to help them develop vehicles that could service the International Space Station. The two companies will split nearly $500 million from NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program, an effort by NASA to develop commercial vehicles to ferry cargo and crew to and from the ISS. SpaceX, which proposed developing the Dragon capsule launched on its Falcon 9 rocket under development, will receive $278 million, while RpK, which proposed a version of the K-1 RLV that the company's predecessor, Kistler Aerospace, developed in the 1990s, will get $207 million. The funding, which runs through the end of the decade, is contingent on the companies meeting a series of milestones as they develop their vehicles. Both companies plan to supplement the NASA money with private funding. The two companies beat out four other finalists to win the awards; 20 companies originally submitted proposals for the COTS effort.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Tuesday, February 17
ESA Boss Couches Lunar Plans In Security Terms
Aviation Week — 1:43 am ET (0643 GMT) U.S. Smuggled Thousands of Starlink Terminals Into Iran After Protest Crackdown
Wall Street Journal — 1:42 am ET (0642 GMT) 700-plus Space Command personnel in Alabama by end of 2028, Sen. Katie Britt says
Huntsville Times — 1:41 am ET (0641 GMT) Space Race 2.0: The Competition for the Future Operating System of Space
The Diplomat — 1:35 am ET (0635 GMT) Creating New Launchpads for Space Exploration
Dartmouth Univ. — 1:35 am ET (0635 GMT) |
