Space News by Jeff Foust — February 1, 2022
Launch companies Relativity Space and SpaceX were among the companies that submitted proposals last year to NASA for initial development of commercial space stations.
NASA selected proposals led by Blue Origin, Nanoracks and Northrop Grumman Dec. 2 for funded Space Act Agreements as part of the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations, or CLD, program. The three companies will get more than $400 million combined through 2025 to mature the designs of commercial space stations that could succeed the International Space Station by the end of the decade.
At the time of the awards, NASA would only say that it received 11 proposals, but did not disclose who the other bidders were. “Almost all of the proposals represented viable concepts for commercial LEO destinations,” said Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight at NASA Headquarters, in a call with reporters the day of the announcement.
NASA released Jan. 27 the source selection statement for the CLD competition, which identifies the companies that submitted proposals and outlines the agency’s evaluation of those proposals. That document confirmed that the agency received 11 proposals, two of which, from DEHAS Limited and Hamon Industries, were deemed unacceptable by NASA for failing to “demonstrate significant concept definition and design maturation” and be ready for a preliminary design review (PDR) at the end of the agreement. Those proposals were not further evaluated.
NASA assessed the technical approach and business plans of each proposal on a color-coded scale of blue, green, white, yellow and red, representing very high, high, moderate, low and very low levels of confidence, respectively. Proposals from three relatively unknown companies — Maverick Space Systems, Orbital Assembly Company and ThinkOrbital — received “red” scores for both technical and business, while a fourth, Space Villages, received a red technical score and a yellow business score.
The source selection statement revealed that SpaceX also bid on the CLD program. The company had not disclosed its proposal that, based on the statement, would be based on converting the lunar lander version of its Starship vehicle it is developing for NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) program.
More:
https://spacenews.com/relativity-and-spacex-bid-on-nasa-commercial-space-station-competition/
