A revised final announcement was posted on August 5th. I am guessing that this is the last revision since proposals are due next week (on August 26th).
Under Phase 2, NASA would seek to purchase an end-to-end CLD service including:• Transportation of NASA crew to and accommodation on CLD and return to Earth;• Transportation of NASA payloads to and accommodation on CLD;• Transportation of samples, materials, and crew equipment to CLD and return to Earth; and• Disposal of waste and payloads no longer required by NASA.
One of the submissions was a proposal for a commercial LEO habitat called Starlab:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nanoracks-voyager-space-and-lockheed-martin-teaming-to-develop-commercial-space-station-301405326.html
I rate this proposal 2nd behind Axiom. Nanoracks have customer plus financial backing now to make this happen. LM are more than capable of building this spacestation. The inflatable technology is big unknown unless LM have acquired it from Bigelow.Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk
So who's going to supply the inflatable part though?
Announcing Orbital Reef - Your Address in OrbitSee also the press release:https://blueorigin-static-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/orbital-reef-press-release.pdf
Last month, we successfully submitted our proposal to @NASA for the Commercial Low-Earth-Orbit Destinations program. NASA’s vision of the CLD program aligns with our own roadmap & the proposal helped accelerate our industry collaborations.
To make this all work, NASA must agree to take ISS off limits for commercial astronauts and tourists when the first commercial platform is available.
Quote from: Danderman on 10/27/2021 01:43 pmTo make this all work, NASA must agree to take ISS off limits for commercial astronauts and tourists when the first commercial platform is available.Except that the current front-runner, Axiom, is intending to build its station by attaching the elements to ISS until enough of it is there to detach and move to its own position in the orbit (or take over the position when ISS is deorbited).I actually doubt that all (or even more than 2) of these are going to be built. I think the driver on getting launched will be customers for the facility. Axiom is a yes, as they plan to pretty much transition into the ISS role. The others will depend on the market.I personally think the second is going to be a nearly pure-play 'Space Hotel'. Currently, that is the only real orbital market. Sure, there will be some small facility for 'research', just to say its there, but the orbital tourist market is what will drive it. Eventually, there will be development that will drive more and larger stations for things like 'orbital sound stages' for film/tv production and orbital manufacturing at varying G levels, but that is going to follow after people getting excited about being able to go there... (and yes, it will be the very rich spending their money who open that door first).
Quote from: Cherokee43v6 on 10/27/2021 02:03 pmQuote from: Danderman on 10/27/2021 01:43 pmTo make this all work, NASA must agree to take ISS off limits for commercial astronauts and tourists when the first commercial platform is available.Except that the current front-runner, Axiom, is intending to build its station by attaching the elements to ISS until enough of it is there to detach and move to its own position in the orbit (or take over the position when ISS is deorbited).I actually doubt that all (or even more than 2) of these are going to be built. I think the driver on getting launched will be customers for the facility. Axiom is a yes, as they plan to pretty much transition into the ISS role. The others will depend on the market.I personally think the second is going to be a nearly pure-play 'Space Hotel'. Currently, that is the only real orbital market. Sure, there will be some small facility for 'research', just to say its there, but the orbital tourist market is what will drive it. Eventually, there will be development that will drive more and larger stations for things like 'orbital sound stages' for film/tv production and orbital manufacturing at varying G levels, but that is going to follow after people getting excited about being able to go there... (and yes, it will be the very rich spending their money who open that door first).Side effects of long term zeroG exposure will mean most hotel visits will be short 1-2weeks. Still think there is case for same form of artificial gravity to help with eating, drinking and bathroom activities. Researchers may find artificial gravity useful, but vibrations from it are likely to interfere with zeroG experiments. Sent from my SM-T733 using Tapatalk
NASA is fairly clear that they want to purchase services similar to those on ISS today. Artificial gravity is purely extra credit.Contractors will be focused on duplicating ISS capabilities, albeit at a smaller scale.
When reading the NASA documents, I noticed there was a discussion about not allowing contractors to double-dip, ie, Axiom getting 2 contracts to do the same work. How is that going to be handled, as Axiom already has a similar NASA agreement?
