NASA Selects Companies to Send Cargo to ISS

SpaceX, Orbital ATK and Sierra Nevada Corp have been selected by the US space agency NASA to send cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), with the mission likely to begin from 2019, according to a statement released by the agency. At least six uncrewed cargo missions will be bought by the agency from 2019 to 2024 from each of the three companies, according to the agency officials.

Any of the three companies can be asked for extra re-supply missions by NASA, which is a strong possibility, according to the ISS Program Manager, Kirk Shireman. NASA selected SpaceX and Orbital ATK during the Commercial Resupply Services contracts’ first round, which is called CRS1. Both the companies will be joined by Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser during the missions to be undertaken as part of CRS2, which is the new round of contracts.

Dream Chaser will provide certain unique science opportunities since it has the ability for runway landing. His way of landing ensures that the return cargo will face lower physical impact and also ensures ‘accelerated pressurized return’ that may allow the retrieval of cargo just after 3-6 hours of landing, according to the ISS Chief Scientist, Julie Robinson. The CRS2 contracts are likely to be valued at $14 billion, but this is just meeting government requirements, Shireman stated. He added that the contracts actual cost will not be close this value.

The purpose of selecting three companies is having several options, like pressurized or unpressurized cargo, return-cargo vehicles that either burn up in the atmosphere, as well as the vehicles that are capable of docking directly with the station and berthed using the orbiting lab's robotic arm. "One of the considerations from an operational standpoint on the ISS, it's really important to have more than one supply chain," said Shireman.