Commercial LEO Destinations program | |
---|---|
Type of project | Aerospace |
Owner | NASA |
Country | United States |
Established | 2021 |
Status | Active |
Website | NASA Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations |
The Commercial LEO Destinations program (CLD, or Commercial Destinations in Low Earth Orbit, or Commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) Development Program) is a public/private partnership program of the NASA, to help facilitate the building of private commercial space stations (CSSs) in low Earth orbit.
NASA must face the planned end of the International Space Station, whose deorbit is planned for the early 2030s. The agency therefore wants to have destinations in low Earth orbit ready to take over from the ISS. However, NASA no longer wishes to design, build and operate the stations but, rather, to be one of the customers who would use such a station if it were built and operated by private actors. NASA therefore proposed in 2021 to reuse the same formula used successfully for the delivery of cargo and crews to low orbit with the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services/Commercial Resupply Services (cargo transport) and Commercial Crew Development/Commercial Crew Program (transport crews). [1] Furthermore, NASA is focusing on operating its own lunar exploration projects: Lunar Gateway station, with contracts to private companies to develop and provide space suits (Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services program), [2] the placement of payloads onto the Moon (Commercial Lunar Payload Services program) and the landing of astronauts (Human Landing System program).[ citation needed ]
NASA also began a program in 2014, NextSTEP Appendix I, [3] which has the aim to add additional modules to the ISS. Axiom Space won a 2021 bid process and was awarded a contract $140 million to build, and then attach, its modules to the International Space Station, the Axiom Orbital Segment [1] (which must then evolve as an autonomous station after the deorbiting of the ISS).[ citation needed ]
A previously projected part of the program, NextSTEP Appendix K, was to select standalone station projects but was canceled in August 2020. [4]
In March 2021, NASA created the Commercial LEO Destinations program which aims to support the design, build and operation of private Earth-orbiting space stations in which the agency would be just one of the customers (tenant or other form of contract), with companies retaining ownership of their stations. [1]
Several companies indicated initial interest in the program during 2021, including Airbus, Blue Origin, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, Firefly Aerospace, General Dynamics, ispace, Lockheed Martin, Moog Inc., Nanoracks, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Redwire, RUAG Space, Sierra Nevada Corporation, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Orbit, Voyager Space Holdings, and York Space Systems. [1]
The companies that actually applied two years later, in 2023, were: [5]
Three teams were selected in December 2021 to continue work with agency grants (subject to approval by the United States Congress[ needs update ]): [6] [7] [8] [9]
Lockheed Martin withdrew from the Starlab project and was replaced by Airbus Defense and Space in 2023. [10]
On October 4, 2023, Northrop Grumman announced that it was joining the Starlab project and abandoning its own station project. The company plans in particular to develop an autonomous docking system for its Cygnus cargo ship, which will resupply the station. The company had already received $36.6 million of the $125.6 million granted by NASA. [11]
Also in October 2023, it was made public by CNBC that the partnership between Blue Origin and Sierra Space could end, with the two companies refocusing on their priority projects, respectively the Blue Moon and the Dream Chaser. The team had already received $24 million of the $130 million granted by NASA. [12]
In January 2024, an additional $100M in funding was added to the program. [13]
A space station is a spacecraft which remains in orbit and hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring habitation facilities. The purpose of maintaining a space station varies depending on the program. Most often space stations have been research stations, but they have also served military or commercial uses, such as hosting space tourists.
Dream Chaser is an American reusable lifting-body spaceplane developed by Sierra Space. Originally intended as a crewed vehicle, the Dream Chaser Space System is set to be produced after the Dream Chaser Cargo System cargo variant is operational. The crewed variant is planned to carry up to seven people and cargo to and from low Earth orbit. Sierra plans to manufacture a fleet of the spaceplane.
Antares, known during early development as Taurus II, is an expendable launch system developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation and the Pivdenne Design Bureau to launch the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA's COTS and CRS programs. Able to launch payloads heavier than 8,000 kg (18,000 lb) into low Earth orbit, Antares is the largest rocket operated by Northrop Grumman. Antares launches from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and made its inaugural flight on April 21, 2013. Antares 100 was retired in 2014 and series 200 was retired in 2023 due to component unavailability. As of January 2024 Antares 300 is under development.
Cygnus is an expendable American cargo spacecraft used for International Space Station (ISS) logistics missions. Cygnus was developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation, partially funded by NASA under the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. To create Cygnus, Orbital paired the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, built by Thales Alenia Space and previously used by the Space Shuttle for ISS logistics, with a service module based on Orbital's GEOStar, a satellite bus. After a successful demonstration flight in 2013, Orbital was chosen to receive a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract. A larger Enhanced Cygnus was introduced in 2015. Orbital Sciences was renamed Orbital ATK in 2015 and Northrop Grumman purchased Orbital in 2018 and has continued to operate Cygnus missions.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. Established in 1958, it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the U.S. space development effort a distinct civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. It has since led most of America's space exploration programs, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968–1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA supports the International Space Station (ISS) along with the Commercial Crew Program, and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the lunar Artemis program.
Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on commercially operated spacecraft. The first CRS contracts were signed in 2008 and awarded $1.6 billion to SpaceX for twelve cargo Dragon and $1.9 billion to Orbital Sciences for eight Cygnus flights, covering deliveries to 2016. The Falcon 9 and Antares rockets were also developed under the CRS program to deliver cargo spacecraft to the ISS.
Nanoracks LLC is a private in-space services company which builds space hardware and in-space repurposing tools. The company also facilitates experiments and launches of CubeSats to Low Earth Orbit.
OA-9E was the tenth flight of the Cygnus, an uncrewed resupply spacecraft. The flight was launched by Orbital ATK (OA), which was purchased by Northrop Grumman during the mission. It was the ninth flight under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA and conducted under an extension, leading to the "E" in the mission name. The mission launched on 21 May 2018 at 08:44:06 UTC.
DreamUp PBC is a Public-benefit corporation that offers space-based educational activities. DreamUp is a spin-off and sister company of Nanoracks LLC, a private spaceflight company. Nanoracks gives DreamUp access to research opportunities on the U.S. National Lab on board the International Space Station.
The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a space station which is planned to be assembled in orbit around the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts as part of the Artemis program. It is a multinational collaborative project: participants include NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The Gateway is planned to be the first space station beyond low Earth orbit.
NG-14, previously known as OA-14, was the fifteenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its fourteenth flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract with NASA. The mission was launched on 3 October 2020, at 01:16:14 UTC.
NG-15, previously known as OA-15, was the fifteenth launch of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its fourteenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. The mission launched on 20 February 2021 at 17:36:50 UTC. This is the fourth launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.
Axiom Orbital Segment or Axiom Segment are the planned modular components of the International Space Station (ISS) designed by Houston, Texas-based Axiom Space for commercial space activities. Axiom Space gained initial NASA approval for the venture in January 2020. Axiom Space was later awarded the contract by NASA on February 28, 2020. This orbital station will be separated from the ISS to become a modular space station, Axiom Station, after the ISS is decommissioned.
NG-18 was the eighteenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its seventeenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-2) contract with NASA. The mission successfully launched on 7 November 2022 at 10:32:42 UTC. This was the seventh launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.
Orbital Reef is an under development low Earth orbit (LEO) space station being designed by Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada Corporation's Sierra Space for commercial space activities and space tourism uses. Blue Origin has referred to it as a "mixed-use business park". The companies released preliminary concepts for the station on 25 October 2021. The station is being designed to support 10 persons in 830 m3 of volume. As of March 2022, the station was projected to be operational by 2027.
Starlab is a planned LEO commercial space station, which is expected to launch no earlier than 2028. It is currently being designed by Starlab Space, a joint venture between Voyager Space and Airbus. It is planned to be launched before the decommissioning of the ISS.
Sierra Space Corporation, commonly referred to as Sierra Space, is a privately held aerospace and space technologies company headquartered in Louisville, Colorado, with additional facilities in Colorado, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina and a testing site at the Marshal Space Flight Center in Alabama. The company makes spaceflight hardware for various applications across the industry. It is currently developing the Dream Chaser spaceplane. The spaceplane was selected by NASA to provide services to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Service 2 contract. The company is also in collaboration with Blue Origin to develop components of the Orbital Reef space station.