Barbara Selby
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                      June 14, 1990
(Phone:  202/453-2927)

Andes Hoyt
Center for Advanced Space Propulsion, Tullahoma, Tenn.
(Phone:  615/454-9294)

RELEASE:  90-83

COMMERCIAL EXPERIMENT TRANSPORTER PLANNED

     The National Aeronautics and Space Administration today 
announced support for plans to develop a system for launching and 
recovering commercial spaceborne experiments.
 
     Sponsored by NASA's Office of Commercial Programs, the 
objective of the Commercial Experiment Transporter (COMET) 
program is to develop both hardware and infrastructure to 
facilitate the commercial development of space by the
United States.  NASA's Centers for the Commercial Development of 
Space (CCDS) initiated the program and will be totally 
responsible for system design, fabrication, test and operations 
in which industry will be encouraged to be innovative.
 
     "Proceeding with this innovative concept represents another 
significant step in the commercial development of space," said 
James T. Rose, NASA Assistant Administrator for Commercial 
Programs.  "The COMET program will help provide the access to 
space that is critical in meeting industry's needs."

     Carried aloft by an expendable launch vehicle, the COMET 
free-flyer will contain both a service module and a recovery 
system.  The two components will separate prior to reentering the 
atmosphere so that most experiments will be returned to Earth in 
the recovery system, while others not requiring retrieval, could 
continue their mission aboard the service module. 

                             -more-

                              -2-
 
     There are six major elements to the COMET program: launch 
vehicle and services, payload integration, the service module, 
orbital operations, recovery system and services, and systems 
engineering.  Contractors will be expected to provide key 
hardware and services for each segment of COMET development and 
operations.
 
     The COMET program plans call for a mid-1992 launch of a 
free-flyer, weighing up to 1,800 pounds, into an equatorial orbit 
with an inclination of about 40 degrees.  Commercial experiments 
and processes to be returned to Earth will be carried out during 
a nominal 30-day mission, while non-recoverable payloads can 
remain on orbit in the service module for a year or longer.  
Completion of the second phase of flight will result in reentry 
of the recovery system and its payload at a site within the 
continental United States.  Specific launch and recovery 
locations have not been defined since industry will be allowed to 
propose the most cost-efficient method to meet mission 
requirements.
 
     Launching the COMET on expendable rockets offers 
experimenters flexibility in selecting orbital parameters which 
are different from those of the Space Shuttle.  Additionally, the 
free-flyer will stay in orbit longer and can carry industrial 
research materials that could be hazardous to the Shuttle
and its crew.
 
     The lead CCDS, the Center for Advanced Space Propulsion 
(CASP) located at the University of Tennessee Space Institute, 
Tullahoma, will be responsible for program management and systems 
engineering.  Other participating CCDSs include:
 
     - Center for Macromolecular Crystallography, University of 
Alabama-Birmingham (payload integration);
 
     - BioServe Space Technologies, University of Colorado, 
Boulder (recovery system);
 
     - Center for Space Power, Texas A&M University, College 
Station (service module);
 
     - Consortium for Materials Development in Space, University 
of Alabama-Huntsville (expendable launch vehicle); and
 
     - Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center, University of Houston 
(orbital operations).

                             -more-

                              -3-

      The CCDS team, through CASP, will prepare statements of 
work, evaluate proposals and, upon contractor selection, provide 
technical observation and contract monitoring.  The University of 
Tennessee-Calspan Center for Aerospace Research, the legal entity 
for CASP, will issue a request for proposals this summer. Joseph 
F. Pawlick Jr., CASP, is the COMET program manager.

                             -end-

     NASA news releases and other NASA information is available 
electronically on CompuServe and GEnie, the General Electric 
Network for Information Exchange.  For information on CompuServe, 
call 1-800-848-8199 and ask for representative 176.  For 
information on GEnie, call 1-800-638-9636.

TO:  MDS/PRA Group
     1615 L Street, N.W. - Suite 100
     Washington, D.C. 20036

DATE & TIME:  JUNE 14, 1990

ORDERED BY:  Edward Campion
NASA Headquarters/LMD
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