Atlanta, April 13, 2005 — Engineering consulting firm SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. (SEI) announces that it has won an award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to examine how commercial industry can help NASA achieve the objectives embodied in the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). Specifically, this project will examine NASA's utilization of commercial sector assets and what changes are needed in NASA requirements to promote the commercial development of space. This contract is part of NASA's Exploration Systems Research and Technology (ESR&T) development program to examine critical concepts and technologies for manned exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond. The value of this two-year contract which begins in April 2005 is approximately $2.2 million with all options included.
In early 2004, NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) developed a Human and Robotics Technology (H&RT) Formulation Plan identifying the research and technology goals and objectives for implementing the VSE. Based on this plan, NASA issued a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), one of several steps being taken by NASA to develop new partnerships with industry and academia. From more than 3,700 Notices of Intent submitted to NASA, the field was narrowed to 485 full proposal submissions, and then to a final set of 70 proposals that were selected for an actual award. This project from SEI entitled "Economic Development of Space (EDS): Examination and Simulation" was one of those selected.
The EDS study will examine and simulate potential future scenarios of commercialization of space and how they relate to the national Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). This activity will develop specific recommendations on how NASA can utilize other government and commercial products and services to meet the goals of the VSE through a series of workshops. This activity also includes the development and use of an economic and market simulation model referred to as the Nodal Economic Space Commerce (NESC) model. The markets to be modeled include all current major government and commercial markets as well as overlays of future markets (space tourism, space solar power, etc.).
"Governments will not be the ultimate guarantor of sustained space exploration. The history of civilization on Earth is replete with examples of government initiated industries transforming into viable and competitive commercial marketplaces," says Mr. A.C. Charania, Senior Futurist at SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. (SEI) who is serving as the Principal Investigator for this project. "From sub-orbital space tourism, new small payload launch vehicles, and inflatable space habitats a myriad of companies and organizations are proposing innovative solutions to the space exploration problem. What is commercial industry doing that could be utilized for the return to the Moon and beyond? What specifically can NASA do to fully allow these innovations to help? What will future space commerce look like? These are the types of questions this project seeks to answer through dialogue with the leading thought experts coupled with a high fidelity computer simulation of the future space marketplace," he adds.
SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. (SEI) is leading a team of diverse and highly regarded experts to examine economic development in two broad categories: Human and cargo/infrastructure presence in space (Earth to Orbit launch, space habitats, etc.); and space resources (space solar power, space mining, etc.). Specific team members include: X-Prize Foundation, Ms. Carissa Bryce Christensen from The Tauri Group, LLC, Dr. Hiroshi Kanamori from Shimizu Corporation (Japan), Mr. Hideki Kanayama from CSP Japan, Inc. (Japan), Mr. Derek Webber from Spaceport Associates, Dr. Robert Alexander Goehlich from Keio University (Japan), Mr. Marco A. Caceres from the Teal Group Corporation, and Dr. Wendell Mendell from NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC).
More information can be found at the SEI website: www.sei.aero.