NASA's approach to commercial cargo and crew transportation

Abstract

To stimulate the commercial space industry and potentially serve the logistics needs of the International Space Station (ISS) in the post-Space Shuttle era, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2006 began the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) initiative. NASA entered into agreements with two U.S. firms, Rocketplane Kistler and Space Exploration Technologies to share up to 485,000,000 USD to demonstrate cargo transportation services to and from Low Earth orbit (LEO), with an option for additional funds to demonstrate human transportation services. Subsequently, NASA also entered into unfunded agreements with five companies to develop innovative space transportation capabilities. This paper reviews this unique initiative, describes the concepts of these seven companies, and discusses the potential of this emerging industry to make LEO more accessible.