The commercial partnerships portfolio within NASA's space technology mission directorate (STMD) encompasses six key programs: (1) flight opportunities, (2) small business innovation research (SBIR)…

This is a delivery order awarded by the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) to The Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), under the $709 million Specialized Engineering, Evaluation and Test Services (SEETS) IDIQ contract. The order, valued at $299,979, is for The Aerospace Corporation to provide expertise and assistance to NASA's Flight Opportunities program in assessing market and technology barriers, as well as commercialization and business plans, relevant to the commercialization readiness of suborbital flight vehicles and small satellite orbital launchers. This work will leverage tools previously developed by The Aerospace Corporation to map commercialization readiness and analyze technology barriers and system performance improvements. The contract is not set aside.

The commercial partnerships portfolio within NASA's space technology mission directorate (STMD) encompasses six key programs: (1) flight opportunities, (2) small business innovation research (SBIR) / small business technology transfer (STTR), (3) centennial challenges, (4) prizes & challenges, (5) regional economic development, and (6) emerging space grants. These programs represent a key aspect of NASA's strategy to stimulate the commercial space industry and spark economic growth, while leveraging the industry's commercial capabilities through public-private partnerships, to deliver technologies and capabilities needed for future NASA, other government agency, and commercial missions. In support of that strategy, the flight opportunities (FO) program is helping to foster maturation of commercial flight opportunities for the rapid development of space technology. Maturation, and through maturation, adoption of a new and innovative space technology is dependent on the ability to demonstrate the technology in a relevant operational environment prior to mission use. The NASA FO office has utilized a contract with the AEROSPACE corporation (AEROSPACE) to support IT in awarding efforts to develop the suborbital and small satellite (SMALLSAT) market. NASA awarded the specialized engineering, evaluation and test services (SEETS) contract (NNJ11HB94C) to AEROSPACE in april 2011 as an agency indefinite quantity indefinite delivery (IDIQ) contract that is administered by the NASA johnson space center (JSC). Important and relevant accomplishments under the previous task orders issued to AEROSPACE by the NASA armstrong flight research center (AFRC) include development of a model based on the ECO-physics of launch for characterizing market demand for suborbital reusable launch vehicles (SRLVS) to gain market insight, and analysis of technical investments supporting STMD suborbital and SMALLSAT initiatives. AEROSPACE also identified and analyzed srlv and SMALLSAT market barriers, focusing on affordable launch practices and identification of tipping point investment areas to better assure commercialization of new relevant technologies. Specifically, the initial structure of a barriers and tipping point (BTP) model was developed. This model shows promise for assessing market and technology barriers and tipping points to commercialization readiness of suborbital flight vehicles and SMALLSAT launch systems relevant to the commercialization and business plans. AEROSPACE also performed a parametric study on projected safety of SRLVS and of space flight participants. To facilitate optimization of STMD investment opportunities with U.S. Industry, the FO is tasking AEROSPACE to provide expertise and assistance with assessing market and technology barriers, as well as commercialization and business plans, relevant to commercialization readiness of suborbital flight vehicles and SMALLSAT orbital launchers. Using tools developed under previous FO tasks, AEROSPACE will map commercialization readiness of srlv and SMALLSAT launch systems against other established and developmental commercialization analysis tools. AEROSPACE will identify and analyze srlv and SMALLSAT launch technology barriers, focusing on system performance improvements and enabling technologies, and will perform further analysis of projected safety of space flight participants (SFPS) aboard SRLVS to monitor experimental payloads.