In the coming decades, the space frontier will continue to expand, but the growth of an otherwise dynamic, creative, and productive U.S. space commerce market is adversely affected by the current daunting price tag. NASA's ability to explore and discover is similarly affected. America must achieve significant reductions in the cost of access to space, and do so while significantly increasing safety and reliability. The key to success is to accelerate progress toward 2nd generation reusable launch vehicle systems with cost structures capable of stimulating significant market growth for commercial space transportation. Small Payloads Improving reliability, turnaround time, and cost.
Challenges Provide the capability for rapid development and production of highly reliable systems.
Provide the capability for increased performance margins.