NASA is planning for an unmanned cargo version of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), able to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) after the Space Shuttle is retired in 2010.
After 2010, the USA will not have a cargo vehicle compatible with the ISS, or the ability to bring mass back to Earth.
“In our architecture planning we are making certain that unmanned versions [of the CEV] can also carry cargo to the station,” NASA administrator Mike Griffin told a Space Transportation Association meeting in Washington DC on 21 June.
Boeing vice-president for space exploration Chuck Allen says a cargo CEV could be one of several variants. “We could make one a month – a cargo version, a down-mass version, a crew version – with a continuous production line.”
Procurement of ISS resupply services will not be under traditional NASA cost-plus contracts, Griffin says. He wants fixed-price contracts, with progress payments and specified prices for specific numbers of vehicles. Procurement of the manned CEV is expected to remain cost-plus.
Source: Flight International
