NASA has announced a new competition for a funded Space Act Agreement (SAA) worth $175 million for its $500 million Commercial Orbital Transportation Services demonstration (COTS) programme.
This follows the termination of COTS competitor Rocketplane Kistler's SAA and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announcement that it had passed the critical design review for its first of three COTS demonstration flights, scheduled for the fourth quarter 2008.
COTS is a programme to fund cargo transport development for International Space Station resupply, when companies' meet agreed milestones. NASA expects to select a winner of the new competition in the first quarter of 2008 after its proposal submission deadline of 20 November.
For COTS, the agency has $500 million to match to participants' own financing, and Rocketplane Kistler and SpaceX were selected for the programme in August 2006.
The $175 million is the balance of Rocketplane Kistler's $206.8 million SAA after that company received a $31.2 million payment by completing milestones during its 14-month participation. The Oklahoma-based company's SAA was terminated after it failed to meet financial and technical milestones.
SpaceX is eligible to bid for the $175 million SAA and says it will submit a proposal. It is developing its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon SpaceX passed its COTS critical design review for its first COTS flight scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2008.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
