Enclosure

NASA Advisory Council Recommendation

Financial Commitment to the Commercial LEO Destinations

2022-01-01

Name of Committee: Human Exploration and 

Operations Committee 

Chair of Committee: Mr. Wayne Hale

Date of Council Public Deliberation: March 1, 2022

Short Title of Recommendation: Financial Commitment to the 

Commercial LEO Destinations

Recommendation:

The Council recommends that NASA should determine its demand for low-Earth orbit (LEO) 

services as soon as practical, but well in advance of International Space Station (ISS) 

retirement. This demand should be translated into a contractual commitment as soon as 

practical. NASA should begin transitioning its needs to the commercial providers well 

before the ISS is retired.

Major Reasons for the Recommendation:

Business viability of the Commercial LEO Destinations (CLDs) is as important as technical 

viability. The CLD contractors will regard NASA as an anchor tenant. A firm commitment 

by NASA will be essential in enabling the CLDs to attract additional customers and close the 

business case.

Consequences of No Action on the Recommendation:

Long term availability of commercial LEO services depends on the business viability of the 

services providers. A lack of firm commitment by NASA as a customer will dramatically 

reduce the business viability of the providers.

NASA Response:

NASA concurs. NASA has developed a long-term strategy to enable a robust LEO economy. 

Part of this long-term strategy is to take a phased approach on the design and development of 

CLDs. A phased approach allows NASA to explore designs that are mutually beneficial to 

NASA and industry. It also helps to reduce risk by enabling industry to mature concepts and 

NASA to mature future requirements prior to the commitment of a services contract.

CLD Phase 1 is well underway, and NASA already has agreements in place investing in the 

design and development of four future commercial LEO destinations. Phase 1 is the period

of formulation and design by private industry, in coordination with NASA, of CLD

capabilities determined to be most suitable for potential government and private sector 

customer needs.
2

CLD Phase 2 is planned to be a competitive procurement by NASA of services in LEO 

which would include certification by NASA of the transportation and accommodations of 

NASA crew and payloads on CLD. In Phase 2, NASA would seek to purchase via a Federal 

Acquisition Regulation-based acquisition an end-to-end CLD service including transportation 

to/from and accommodation of NASA crew on CLD; transportation of NASA payloads to 

CLD; transportation of samples, materials, and crew equipment to CLD and return to Earth; 

and disposal of waste and payloads no longer required by NASA.

NASA has communicated its preliminary demand for LEO destination services to industry 

already. This demand includes the need for at least two NASA crewmembers on-orbit 

continuously and the ability to perform approximately 200 research experiments, both 

internal pressurized experiments and external unpressurized experiments. NASA has also 

stated the plan to spend approximately $1 billion annually on LEO destination services (see 

“ISS Transition Report” transmitted to Congress in January 2022).

While this demand is preliminary, NASA is in the process of refining our anticipated service 

requirements, which will form the basis for a contractual commitment as part of the Phase 2 

procurement cited above. NASA intends to initiate the Phase 2 procurement in the mid-part 

of this decade. NASA believes that the results of Phase 1 are needed to fully inform the 

Phase 2 procurement.

NASA’s goal is to have one or more CLDs providing services by 2028. With the retirement 

of the ISS planned for 2030, our strategy includes an approximately two-year overlap period 

with the ISS to begin the process of transitioning our needs to CLD providers as soon as 

practicable.