NASA teams up with 7 US companies to advance space capabilities

Washington, June 17 (IANS) NASA announced that it will partner with seven US companies for its upcoming human spaceflight and the commercial low Earth orbit economy.

The companies are Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, Sierra Space Corporation, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, Special Aerospace Services, ThinkOrbital and Vast Space.

"It is great to see companies invest their own capital toward innovative commercial space capabilities, and we've seen how these types of partnerships benefit both the private sector and NASA," Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.

"The companies can leverage NASA's vast knowledge and experience, and the agency can be a customer for the capabilities included in the agreements in the future. Ultimately, these agreements will foster more competition for services and more providers for innovative space capabilities," he added.

NASA selected these proposals based on an evaluation of their relevance to achieving the agency's goals and its ability to provide the requested resources, as well as the feasibility of the company's business and technical approach. Each party bears the cost of its participation through the agreements.

Blue Origin and SpaceX's partnership with NASA aims to develop integrated commercial space transportation capability, including Starship, Dragon.

Northrop Grumman is collaborating with NASA to provide autonomous and robotic capabilities for commercial science research and manufacturing capabilities in low Earth orbit.

Sierra Space is tying up with NASA for the development of the company's commercial low Earth orbit ecosystem, including next-generation space transportation.

Special Aerospace Services is collaborating with NASA on an in-space servicing technology, propulsion, and robotic technology.

ThinkOrbital is collaborating with NASA on the development of ThinkPlatforms -- self-assembling, single-launch, large-scale orbital platforms that facilitate a wide array of applications in low Earth orbit, including in-space research, manufacturing, and astronaut missions.

Vast is partnering with NASA on technologies and operations required for its microgravity and artificial gravity stations.

The companies are also part of NASA's second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 initiative (CCSC-2) -- designed to advance commercial space-related efforts through NASA contributions of technical expertise, assessments, lessons learned, technologies, and data.

The first Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities selections in 2014 supported development of four collaborations associated with commercial rockets, spacecraft, and spacesuits.