NASA set up funding for taxi systems in space

The US Space Agency (NASA) plans to sponsor two projects to develop taxi systems in space. This vehicle will be used to bring astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) at the end of 2016.

>>>NASA spends a lot of money developing space 'taxi'

Also last week, NASA released a draft of the terms of the contract aimed at completing the final design of the system in 2014, which will then advance to the next stage, including construction. Build launch and test systems.

With the shuttle program ending, the US now depends entirely on Russia for bringing its astronauts to the ISS station. The cost of bringing an astronaut to Russia's ISS space station is US $ 50 million, including training and support fees.

However, the fact that a Russian spacecraft did not fly into orbit after last month's launch affected plans to bring astronauts to the ISS. Currently, only China can send orbiters, but the country is not a member of the ISS station program.

Therefore, NASA has proposed a plan to develop space taxi to actively take astronauts to the ISS station since the middle of this decade. The US $ 1.6 billion cosmopolitan taxi project, including the construction of a launch system, a spacecraft, a control center and ground support.

Photo caption: NASA's space taxi model. (Source: floridatoday.com)

'Currently, we have only one means to bring astronauts to the ISS. Every year we don't have a crew up there, ISS is in great risk , ' said Phil McAlister, NASA's director of commercial spacecraft, to mention that the US depends on Russia for its Astronauts on the ISS station.

Earlier this year, NASA distributed nearly $ 270 million to four companies, including Boeing, SpaceX, Sierra Nevada and Blue Origin to speed up the development of new generation spacecraft. President Barack Obama's budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 also includes a $ 850 million grant for self-sufficiency efforts and this is the third year the US has funded private companies to build spacecraft. .

McAlister said that the four companies were chosen because they had models to develop feasible rockets and spacecraft.

Some companies and supporters of the commercial space project are concerned that NASA's limited funding and contracting strategies may slow or spoil development programs.

"From a technical perspective that is being implemented and carried out very well, however there is a concern, another concern is about future funding issues and how the contract will be built with structure in the period. the next paragraph , " said Jeff Foust, an industry analyst at Futron Corp.

It is expected that the packages of this project will start from July 2012 and end in April 2014 before being officially exploited.