Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle Flight and Integration Services (sRLV)

NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center established this Master IDIQ on September 8, 2014, to procure suborbital reusable launch vehicle flight and integration services for technology payloads requiring reduced-gravity or specialized flight environments to advance readiness levels. The vehicle is no longer active — ordering closed May 31, 2019, more than seven years ago.

The vehicle distributed a combined potential value of $9.7 million across 19 task orders, with $9.2 million obligated (95% of the ceiling). Activity peaked in 2015 with seven orders; the final award occurred in April 2018. The shared ceiling was $45 million, leaving substantial unobligated authority at close.

Work procured spans payload integration and flight services across platforms including suborbital vehicles, high-altitude balloons, and crewed spacecraft. Recent orders funded microgravity materials-science experiments (3D printing processes, tissue-engineered skeletal muscle), electromagnetic sensing platforms, autonomous flight termination systems, radiation shielding demonstrations, and solar instrument pointing systems. A substantial portion of work supported NASA's Undergraduate Student Instrument Project, suggesting a research and education mission focus alongside internal NASA technology development.

Six prime contractors shared the work. Masten Space Systems Inc. dominated by order count (six awards totaling $4 million) and combined potential value. Blue Origin Texas, LLC placed five orders worth $1.7 million; World View Enterprises Inc. won four orders totaling $1.1 million; Up Aerospace Inc. captured two orders worth $2.3 million. The remaining two primes (Galactic Enterprises, LLC and Paragon Space Development Corporation) each received single orders under $350 thousand. All 19 orders were unrestricted competitive awards with firm fixed pricing.

Armstrong Flight Research Center was the sole customer, placing all 19 orders. Task order values ranged from approximately $76 thousand to $1.4 million, with typical durations of 12–36 months. No successor vehicle or follow-on IDIQ is identified in the source material.

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center has awarded a Master IDIQ for Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle (sRLV) services to fly Research and Development (R & D) technology payloads on platforms that provide reduced gravity or other relevant environments required to test technologies in order to advance their technology readiness.