National Aeronautics and Space Administration INNOVATIONTECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE FOR BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY Volume 15 • Number 2 • 2009 NASA and the Growing Private Space Sector: Working Together for Mutual Benefit Commercial Firms to LOX/Methane Propulsion Centennial Challenge Deliver Cargo to Space System May Help NASA Winner Tells His Own PLUS Station Return to the Moon Success Story How You Can Participate in the Space Program Centennial Challenges http://www.ipp.nasa.gov/cc August 14, 2009: Tether Seattle, WA 2008 PURSE: $2,000,000 Super­strength materials Managed by: Spaceward Foundation http://www.spaceward.org/elevator2010­ts October 17­18, 2009: Regolith Excavation NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA 2009 PURSE: $750,000 Robotic devices to excavate simulated lunar soil Managed by: California Space Education & Workforce Institute Events http://regolith.csewi.org/ Through October 31, 2009: Lunar Lander Competitors’ Locations: TBA Events REMAINING PURSE: $1,650,000 Rocket vehicles simulating lunar takeoff and landing Managed by: X PRIZE Foundation http://space.xprize.org/lunar­lander­challenge November 2009: Astronaut Glove MIT, Cambridge, MA 2009 PURSE: $400,000 Innovative spacesuit glove designs Managed by: Volanz Aerospace, Inc. http://astronaut­glove.tripod.com/ Date TBA: Power Beaming Location TBA Upcoming 2008 PURSE: $2,000,000 Wireless power transmission Managed by: Spaceward Foundation http://www.SpaceElevatorGames.org July 2011: Green Flight Sonoma County Airport, Santa Rosa, CA PURSE: $1,653,000 Safe, quiet & super­efficient aircraft Managed by: Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency Foundation http://cafefoundation.org/v2/pav_home.php N THE COVER RBITAL CIENCES YGNUS SPACECRAFT LOWER LEFT AND PACE S RAGON Upcoming O : O S ’ C ( ) S X ’ D SPACECRAFT (LOWER RIGHT), WINNERS OF NASA’ S COMMERCIAL ORBITAL TRANSPORTATION SERVICES COMPETITION, ARE DEPICTED WITH THEIR POSSIBLE DESTINATIONS IN THE DISTANCE – THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (UPPER LEFT) AND A BIGELOW AEROSPACE HABITAT (UPPER RIGHT). contents NASA Technology Innovation PAGE 28 co Ver STORY COMMERCIAL SPACE: CRITICAL TO NASA’S FUTURE SUCCESS BY CHARLES E. MILLER Accessible space travel, suborbital vehicles, lunar habitats – the growing commercial space industry creates a strategic opportunity for NASA to lever­ age private sector resources, commercial markets and free enterprise innovation. COMMERCIAL ORBITAL 46 feature articles TRANSPORTATION SERVICES PROGRAM BLAZES NEW TRAILS FOR NASA 34 NASA is partnering with industry to enable the demonstration of commercial space transportation systems and capabilities to enable space station cargo delivery services. COMMERCIAL RESUPPLY SERVICES CONTRACTS TO 38 BENEFIT SPACE STATION Building on the COTS Program, NASA breaks new ground with a firm­fixed­price procurement to provide cargo resupply services to the International Space ASTRONAUT GLOVES: Station. MOVING BEYOND THE CHALLENGE 42 INNOVATIONS IN REUSABLE The winner of NASA’s 2007 Astronaut ROCKET ENGINES: Glove Challenge tells how he COMPETITION AND approached the contest and provides COLLABORATION tips for entrepreneurs wishing to try. With its innovative rapid prototyping approach, Armadillo Aerospace won the 2008 Level 1 NASA Lunar Lander Challenge, test flighted a rocket aircraft for the Rocket Racing League and part­ nered with Johnson Space Center to test LOX/methane engines for lunar travel. NASA’S MAGAZINE FOR BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY 3 contents NASA Technology Innovation To view online and for past issues, visit departments http://www.ipp.nasa.gov/innovation 6 NASA NEWS BRIEFS 50 INFUSION — Ames Director Named FLC Director of the Year — NASA’s FAST Program — SpaceX Heat Shield Material Passes Tests 53 INNOVATIVE RESEARCH — NASA’s Human 8 TECH TALK Suborbital Flight Program — This Is Rocket Science! — Commercial Research — Space Habitats Aboard the International — Commercial Communications Space Station — Technology for Orbital Propellant Depots — Water Production Services for the ISS — 21st­Century Pony Express to the Moon 59 OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTNERSHIP — Hydrogen Reclamation and Revitalization Technology — System Health Monitoring Software 60 NASA IPP NETWORK — Directory of NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program National Offices, and Affiliated and Allied Organizations 24 INNOVATOR’S CORNER IPP WELCOMES CHARLES MILLER — NASA and Air Force Partner on Charles Miller joined the Commercial Space Transportation Innovative Partnerships Program Technology Exchange earlier this year as Senior Advisor for Commercial Space. With experience as an entrepreneur and commercial space advocate, he will help to build and strengthen the relationships 26 FACILITY FOCUS between NASA and commercial — Glenn’s Atomic Oxygen Testing Facilities space entities. Material from this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. 4 Volume 15 • Number 2 • 2009 A Message from NASA CHIEF EDITOR Janelle Turner NASA UPFRONTwith… MANAGING EDITOR Douglas A. Comstock Kathryn Duda Director, NASA Innovative Partnerships Program National Technology Transfer Center e have begun to focus each issue of on a particular theme, and the ART DIRECTOR/PRODUCTION Innovation Dennis Packer theme for this issue is something that I am really excited about – Commercial National Technology WSpace. We have many stories about how NASA and the emerging commer­ Transfer Center cial space industry are working together for mutual benefit. There are three key themes that are woven throughout these stories that underscore some of the changes underway in CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS Brett Alexander how NASA is engaging the commercial space community: Donna P. Anderson • Private sector role as partner rather than contractor. James Ball • Government purchase of services instead of hardware. Larry Barone • Creating broader opportunities for innovation. Jeanne L. Becker Christopher Boshuizen First is the shift in relationships between the government and the private sector from Michele Brekke the traditional roles of customer­contractor to one of partners. The Commercial Orbital Bradley M. Carpenter Transportation (COTS) program is a prime example of this, where NASA is partnering Jacob Collins with SpaceX and Orbital Sciences to develop new space transportation capabilities. Douglas A. Comstock Jason Crusan Other examples include licensing NASA technology for development of commercial space Philip Davies habitats and revolutionary propulsion systems, as well as IPP Seed Fund projects where Cynthia Dreibelbis cost­shared technology development among partners advances important technologies of Carol Anne Dunn common interest, such as propellant depots and LOX/Methane rockets. Phil Eaton Marybeth Edeen The second important change is the transition to a model where the government is William H. Gerstenmaier buying services from commercial providers rather than paying for development and oper­ Tim Glover ation of hardware. The biggest example of this – for billions of dollars in launch services Kevin Grohs with commercial service providers – is the Commercial Resupply Services contracts to Mark Haberbusch Timothy G. Hammond provide cargo delivery to the ISS. Another example is the Sabatier water production sys­ Lynn Harper tem that is being deployed on the ISS where NASA will pay for services provided rather Peter K. Homer than for the development of hardware. Looking forward, another story highlights how Eric Hurlbert Robert Kelso lunar communications needed in the future could be a commercial service provided to Seth S. Kessler users rather than a NASA­owned system. Kathryn L. Lueders The third major shift focuses on the creation of broader opportunities for innovation Charles E. Miller that address NASA’s needs but also those of commercial space and other markets. Such Steven A. Mirmina Nancy Oates opportunities can be found through NASA’s Centennial Challenges competitions that are Lawrence Petak open to the citizen inventor. We have great stories from some of our winners. Our first Andrew J. Petro winner, Peter Homer, discusses the progress he has made since winning and gives advice Daniel J. Rasky for other competitors. Our most recent winner, Armadillo Aerospace, describes how the Robert Richards Howard Runge capabilities demonstrated in winning the Lunar Lander Challenge are leading to opportu­ James Schier nities in other markets. Commercial parabolic flight services are being used by NASA’s Robert “Joe ” Shaw FAST program to mature innovative technologies in reduced gravity, and NASA is part­ Peggy Slye nering with other agencies and the private sector to conduct research on the International Jon Michael Smith Laurel J. Stauber Space Station as a National Laboratory. Sidney Sun As I think you will see when you read the stories in this issue, there is a lot to be excit­ Bruce Thieman ed about! NASA will continue to push the boundaries of aeronautics and space explo­ Valin Thorn ration with increasing reliance on – and benefit from – the innovation and new capabili­ William M. Toscano Max Vozoff ties provided by our business partners and entrepreneurs in commercial space. Kris Zacny Technology Innovation is published by the NASA Innovative Partnerships Program. Your feedback provides important contributions to this publication. NASA’S MAGAZINE FOR BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY 5 Technology Innovation NASA News Briefs CREDIT: NASA Ames Director Named Earth data to include satellite and Federal Lab Consortium suborbital data. Director of the Year ARC and Cisco Systems are devel­ oping an online collaborative