An artists concept for Mars Base Camp space station proposed by Lockheed Martin. Representatives from several space companies say private partnerships could accelerate NASAs push to Mars.
Commercial space companies today (July 13) urged legislators to extend NASA's successful public-private partnerships for International Space Station transportation to future programs, including human missions to Mars.
NASA already is working with six firms to develop prototype habitats that would augment the agency's multibillion-dollar Orion capsule and Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket. NASA has said it intends to use the system to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.
Additional taxpayer investment in private companies could accelerate the initiative and cut costs, SpaceX Senior Vice President Tim Hughes told the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness. [SpaceX's Mars Colonization Plan in Pictures]
Technologies that SpaceX would be interested in developing in partnership with NASA include heavy-cargo missions to Mars, deep-space communications systems, and demonstrations of vertical takeoff and landing on the moon, Hughes said.
He pointed to the results from NASAs Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program, which leveraged $800 million of taypayer dollars with millions commercial investment to develop two medium-class launch vehicles and two cargo capsules at a far lower cost and much faster than any previous space vehicle development effort.
The key beneficiaries of COTS SpaceX and Orbital ATK now regularly fly cargo to the International Space Station for NASA under separate launch service contracts. A third company, Sierra Nevada Corp., is expected to add its winged Dream Chaser space plane to the fleet in late 2019.
NASA also is funding COTS-like partnerships with SpaceX and Boeing to develop two transportation systems for astronauts.
"The features associated with the COTS program can be more broadly applied now to the development of deep-space exploration systems for transportation, habitats, communications, reconnaissance and resource utilization," Hughes said.
SpaceX is planning its own private mission to Mars using its Dragon spacecraft.
Under COTS, NASA paid its partners only when they achieved specific technical milestones. The agency set goals for its partners, but did not dictate how those goals would be met. [6 Private Deep Space Habitat Ideas for Mars]
"This encourages fresh thinking and creative problem-solving," Hughes said, adding that competition is critical to the success of COTs-like programs.
Jeff Manber, founder and chief executive of Houston-based NanoRacks, told the Senate subcommittee that public-private partnerships could also help the country transition to an Earth-orbiting research base after the International Space Station is deorbited. Whether the station's mission ends in 2024 or beyond, the United States should avoid a gap in low-Earth orbit human spaceflight, Manber said.
The retirement of the shuttle in 2011 left the country dependent on Russia to fly astronauts to the station until at least 2019, when Space and Boeing hope to begin crew ferry flights
"It's critical that we don't end the International Space Station until we have established commercial operations in low-Earth orbit," said Kennedy Space Center director Robert Cabana. "Right now, the space station serves as a critical destination for our commercial partners."
Irene Klotz can be reached on Twitter at @free_space. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
The rest is here:
NASA Could Reach Mars Faster with Public-Private Partnerships, Companies Tell Congress - Space.com
- White People Are Going to Colonize Mars, and Other Fears From Today's Campuses - Tablet Magazine - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- Bizarre yogurt experiment could be key to colonizing Mars but there will be disgusting consequences, say... - The US Sun - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- SpaceX Must Build 1,000 Starships In 10 Years To Reach Mars Goal. So Far, 0 Starships Have Made It To Space - Jalopnik - January 5th, 2024 [January 5th, 2024]
- A Science Fiction Writer in Space: Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke - tor.com - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Increase your crypto portfolio performance 10X in 2023 with ... - Analytics Insight - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Happy Birthday Elon Musk: Spotlight on the Remarkable Life of a ... - Transcontinental Times - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Jony Ive's latest gig is the seal for King Charles's space project ... - AppleInsider - June 30th, 2023 [June 30th, 2023]
- Top 5 Technologies That Will Make Mars Habitable - Jumpstart Media - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- 10 Best Paradox Interactive Games - TheGamer - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Hanwha propels Nuri rocket project - The Investor - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Do Androids Dream of Terrible Streets? | Compact Mag - Compact Mag - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- All about Mars colonization and news 2023 - From Space With Love - March 4th, 2023 [March 4th, 2023]
- New NASA Nuclear Rocket Plan Aims to Get to Mars in Just 45 Days - January 23rd, 2023 [January 23rd, 2023]
- Mars - Wikipedia - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- Mars Gives Snow an Alien Twist - The Atlantic - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- Will China's Zhurong Mars rover wake from worrying hibernation ... - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- A Mars rover scientist is about to scale carbon-oxygen batteries - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- Next Mars Orbiter - Wikipedia - November 25th, 2022 [November 25th, 2022]
- Occupy Mars: The Game on Steam - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Life on Mars - Wikipedia - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Coeur dAlene student selected to be on the first high school-aged team to train in the Mars Desert Research Station - KREM.com - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Marscoin - October 23rd, 2022 [October 23rd, 2022]
- How Elon Musk used sci-fi and social media to shape his narrative : It's Been a Minute - NPR - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- New ghost tour unearths the grisly side of Old Montreal this Halloween season - The Suburban Newspaper - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Competing in the new 'Space Race' - Royal Aeronautical Society - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- The Martian (film) - Wikipedia - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Elon Musk Racing To Colonize Mars, He Says This Will 'Destroy All Life On Earth' - PayPal Holdings (NASDA - Benzinga - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- The Origin of the Hollow Earth Theory - History of Yesterday - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Why sending a Native American into space is a big deal - WBUR News - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Going to Space Will Not Save Us - Jezebel - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Its Science Over Capitalism: Kim Stanley Robinson and the Imperative of Hope - The MIT Press Reader - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Dubais space center to simulate life on Mars in the Metaverse - Al Arabiya English - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Cosmic Cowboy is a space odyssey for 2022 - The Boston Globe - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Trump pushed for nuclear testing on the moon during final months of presidency - Salon - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Whitest Kids U Know Wrapping Production on Animated Movie Mars, Final WKUK Project After Trevor Moores Death - Variety - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- NASA has created oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars, will the dream of colonizing now come true? - News84Media - News84Media.com - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Here Are The Top 7 Space Organizations Of The World! - Jagran Josh - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Frank Drake's Legacy, Or: Are We All Alone In The Universe? - Hackaday - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Deliver Us Mars Tugs on the Heart Strings in New Story Trailer - Push Square - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- New water map of Mars shows potential landing spots on the planet - TNW - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Stranded: Alien Dawn is the next game from the Surviving Mars devs - Shacknews - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Launches: Life in Venus clouds? Rocket Lab to check - EarthSky - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- How Europe's Space Industry Could Blast Off - Center for European Policy Analysis - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- STARMUS V: Lunar dust allergy, alternatives to planet Earth and how the festival came to Armenia - ARMENPRESS - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- When will the first baby be born in space? - Buffalo News - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- 20 Best Xbox One Space Games To Explore The Great Unknown - Gameranx - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Japanese craft brewery and tech company to simulate making beer on Moon and Mars - SoraNews24 - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- The Moon Archive Meant To Preserve Life On Earth - Twisted Sifter - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- Fireside Chat With Everdome CEO Robert Gryn on the Nurturing of the Metaverse in a Hyperrealistic Format - Tech Times - July 29th, 2022 [July 29th, 2022]
- More People Need to Watch The Best Sci-Fi Show on Prime Video - CNET - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- The CAPSTONE Mission Launches A New Era In The Colonization Of The Moon - Science 2.0 - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- Bedu announces its second curated art drop - My Startup World - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- Mykhailo Federov wishes Elon Musk on his birthday, says 'whole world has chance to live' - Techstory - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- From Autonomous Cities to US Presidency: The Future Is Now Film Shows What Blockchain Leaders Think About Governance - Geeks World Wide - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Elon Musk Plans To Launch Thousands of 394 Feet Tall Rockets To Mars - Wccftech - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- For All Mankind season 3: everything we know - What To Watch - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- 5 Up-and-Coming DOGE Projects that Might be Worth Your Money - NewsBTC - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- My idea for a new era: The town hall from TED2022 - TED Blog - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Elon Musk Sounds Alarm Over 'Population Collapse' Again - Benzinga - Benzinga - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Star Wars: How The Movie Would Have Changed With George Lucas's Original Script - Zyri - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- LongHash Ventures Partners With Protocol Labs to Launch the Third LongHashX Accelerator Filecoin Cohort - Crypto Briefing - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Why we should colonize Mars (and other planets and the satellites too) - May 23rd, 2022 [May 23rd, 2022]
- Chinese rover makes surprise discovery about liquid water on Mars - Big Think - May 23rd, 2022 [May 23rd, 2022]
- The apocalypse after the apocalypse - newframe.com - May 23rd, 2022 [May 23rd, 2022]
- OPINION: The 'good old days' are what we make them - Anchorage Daily News - May 23rd, 2022 [May 23rd, 2022]
- A new stage for Mars: Web3 colonization of Mars has begun - Digital Journal - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- WATCH: Apple TV Plus Releases Trailer For Season 3 Of 'For All Mankind' - We Got This Covered - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- 30 Of the best fried foods around the world - KAKE - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- Crypto.com Spent Its Way to the Top. Then the Market Crashed. Now What? - GQ - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- The US And England Will Never Agree On These Foods - Mashed - May 21st, 2022 [May 21st, 2022]
- Could Lunar Soil be the Key to Reaching Mars? - The National Herald - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- NASA will use the metaverse to build VR scenarios for Mars missions - Interesting Engineering - May 11th, 2022 [May 11th, 2022]
- 10 Best New Teen Movies of 2022 Most Anticipated Teen Movies 2022 - Seventeen - May 11th, 2022 [May 11th, 2022]
- SpaceX mission returns to Earth | WORLD - WORLD News Group - May 11th, 2022 [May 11th, 2022]
- Wealthy nations are carving up space and its riches and leaving other countries behind - Jacksonville Journal-Courier - May 11th, 2022 [May 11th, 2022]
- All Elon Musk's SpaceX rockets revealed with disasters that turned into blazes - The US Sun - May 11th, 2022 [May 11th, 2022]
- Introducing the 'Mobile Gantry' 3D printer that could facilitate the future colonization of Mars - 3D Printing Industry - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- The Billionaire Space Race: Should We Be Worried? - New University - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- Martian rocks may give insight into the Red Planets violent history - BGR - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- Galactic Civilizations IV: Core worlds, colonies, and colonization guide - PC Invasion - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]