NASA awards $370 million to 14 companies to develop new space capabilities
Capitalism in space: NASA yesterday issued fifteen development contracts to fourteen private space companies, totaling $370 million, to help them develop a variety of new space capabilities.
The funding is spread across 15 contracts to 14 different companies, including SpaceX, Astrobotic, Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance and Intuitive Machines.
Nearly 70% of the money is earmarked for the management of cryogenic fluids such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. SpaceX, for example, will get $53 million for an in-space demonstration that will transfer 11 tons (10 metric tons) of liquid oxygen between tanks on one of its next-gen Starship vehicles.
What makes these contracts different from past NASA development contracts is fundamental. First, the design work comes from the companies, not NASA. Therefore products will be designed with the company’s needs in mind, not the government’s, and will also likely be designed faster and more efficiently.
Second, the companies will own what they build, and will be able to sell or use it however they wish. SpaceX for example wants this capability to give Starship the ability to leave Earth orbit, for its own commercial flights.
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Capitalism in space: NASA yesterday issued fifteen development contracts to fourteen private space companies, totaling $370 million, to help them develop a variety of new space capabilities.
The funding is spread across 15 contracts to 14 different companies, including SpaceX, Astrobotic, Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance and Intuitive Machines.
Nearly 70% of the money is earmarked for the management of cryogenic fluids such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. SpaceX, for example, will get $53 million for an in-space demonstration that will transfer 11 tons (10 metric tons) of liquid oxygen between tanks on one of its next-gen Starship vehicles.
What makes these contracts different from past NASA development contracts is fundamental. First, the design work comes from the companies, not NASA. Therefore products will be designed with the company’s needs in mind, not the government’s, and will also likely be designed faster and more efficiently.
Second, the companies will own what they build, and will be able to sell or use it however they wish. SpaceX for example wants this capability to give Starship the ability to leave Earth orbit, for its own commercial flights.
Please consider donating to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar below. Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
Regular readers can support Behind The Black with a contribution via Patreon or PayPal. To use Patreon, go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. For PayPal click one of the following buttons:
If Patreon or Paypal don't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
OT, sorry, but timely… what’s going on with Falcon 9? We have two F9 launches, using new boosters I believe, that are being delayed. The recent last-minute abort of a USSF GPS launch was apparently caused by an anomalous reading from a Merlin engine turbopump, and has yet to be rescheduled, at least there is no mention of such on the SpaceX website. An abundance of caution seems to have pushed back the next Crew Dragon launch from October 31 to sometime in November. Again, nothing on SpaceX.com. And could it be significant that the recent successful StarLink launch used a “flight-proven” booster?
So we have the potential of 18 (or 20) new Merlins with some unspecified turbopump problem, holding up two big missions, but I haven’t heard anything about it in the media (I don’t do Facebook or Twitter). Has anyone else? This highlights a perhaps under-appreciated consequence of using 9/10-engined boosters… if you find a flaw, it is liable to impact a lot of engines all at once! They are unlikely to have a bunch of turbopumps sitting on the shelf, and even if they did, how many hours does it take to tear down, inspect, and possibly replace and retest one?
Imagine if they had two Falcon Heavy missions on hold?! “Yo, Hawthorn! I need 60 new pumps down here, stat!!”
Ps. Of course, a Falcon Heavy would “only” have 28 pumps! So they would need 56 replacements, not 60.
Considering that the booster in question had previously been static fired, I think the odds of a bad sensor are appreciably higher than the odds of a bad turbopump. preburner. SpaceX will announce its findings before the rocket flies, but isn’t likely to say anything in the meantime.