Federal award (DEFINITIVE CONTRACT, fiscal year 2021)
Recipient: NANORACKS, LLC
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2017-05-01 to 2022-09-30
Current total value of award: $11213411.32
Description: THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO CONDUCT A FEASIBILITY STUDY TO VALIDATE THE RELATIVE EASE AND AFFORDABILITY OF REPURPOSING ROCKET UPPER STAGES TO SERVE AS HABITATS, BEGINNING WITH A DEMONSTRATION OF CONVERTING AND ATTACHING A CENTAUR UPPER STAGE TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS). THIS CONTRACT IS IN SUPPORT OF THE FOLLOWING LIST OF NASA OBJECTIVES FOR THIS PHASE OF THE HABITATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT: 1. DEVELOP AND REFINE THE EVOLVABLE, MODULAR ARCHITECTURE, FUNCTIONAL ALLOCATION OPTIONS, STANDARDS, AND COMMON INTERFACES REQUIRED TO ENABLE INTEROPERABILITY OF THE AGGREGATE SYSTEM TO PROVIDE LONG DURATION DEEP SPACE TRANSIT HABITATION. ACHIEVE A LEVEL OF FIDELITY IN TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC FEASIBILITY CONCEPTS FOR GROUND PROTOFLIGHT VEHICLES-MODULES-UNITS/ 2. FURTHER DEFINE AND DEVELOP DEEP SPACE HABITATION CAPABILITIES THAT CAN BE FLOWN AS CO-MANIFESTED PAYLOADS ON SLS BLOCK 1B WITH AN INITIAL SLS CO-MANIFESTING CAPABILITY OF 4 TO 6 METRIC TONS STARTING IN EARLY-TO-MID 2020S, OR LATER IN THE 2020S ON A CARGO-ONLY VERSION OF SLS, OR ON ALTERNATIVE LAUNCH VEHICLES. NOTE THE HABITATION SYSTEM CONCEPT CAN BE SEPARATED INTO MULTIPLE INTEGRATED MODULES WITH DISTRIBUTED FUNCTIONS. IF THE HABITATION CONCEPT IS NOT FLOWN ON SLS, PROVIDE DETAILS OF THE LAUNCH VEHICLE ASSUMPTIONS. 3. MATURE THE DESIGN OF THE OVERALL DEEP SPACE INTEGRATED SYSTEM(S) AND, AT A MINIMUM, DEVELOP A FULL SIZE, GROUND PROTOTYPE OF THE PORTION OF YOUR DESIGN THAT PROVIDES THE MAJORITY OF THE HABITATION CAPABILITIES FOR FORM, FIT, AND PARTIAL FUNCTION INTEGRATION TESTING. 4. IDENTIFY COMMERCIAL CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT FOR LEO THAT INTERSECTS NASA LONG DURATION DEEP SPACE HABITATION REQUIREMENTS ALONG WITH ANY POTENTIAL OPTION TO MAXIMIZE THE LEVERAGING OF COMMERCIAL LEO ADVANCEMENTS TOWARDS MEETING NASA LONG DURATION DEEP SPACE HABITATION NEEDS. 5. PROVIDE INFORMATION ON COMPANY END-TO-END DEVELOPMENT EFFORT AND ROM COSTS FOR FLIGHT DEVELOPMENT - COMPANIES TO PROVIDE A PROPOSAL, SOW, AND FULLY PRICED APPENDIX A EFFORTS AND ROM COSTS FOR SUBSEQUENT PHASES FOR ENGINEERING AND FLIGHT UNIT DEVELOPMENT. THIS CONTRACT IS FOR THE LXION TEAM TO COMPLETE BOTH THE PHASE 1 AND PHASE 2 WORK IN A RAPID, EFFICIENT, AND JUDICIOUS MANNER, FINISHING BOTH THE CORE FEASIBILITY AND THE CONCEPT/ARCHITECTURE PHASES OF THE STUDY BEFORE THE END OF CALENDAR YEAR 2017. THIS WILL ALLOW THE LXION TEAM TO QUICKLY MOVE INTO DEVELOPING HARDWARE, INCLUDING OUTFITTING AN ACTUAL CENTAUR IN EARLY 2018, AND BEING READY FOR THE FIRST FLIGHT OF THE LXION HABITAT AS EARLY AS 2020. THE FOCUS OF THE IXION INITIATIVE PROPOSAL IS TO DEVELOP AND DEMONSTRATE THE CAPABILITY TO  REPURPOSE PROPELLANT TANKS INTO HABITABLE VOLUMES ON-ORBIT FOR USE IN AN OVERALL IN-SPACE ARCHITECTURE. THE CAPABILITY WILL BE DEMONSTRATED IN TWO PHASES.  FIRST IS A CORE FEASIBILITY STUDY AS PHASE 1 AND THEN THE IXION TEAM WILL PLAN A COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEMS CONCEPTS AND ARCHITECTURE STUDY FOR PHASE 2 SHOULD THE FEASIBILITY STUDY MERIT SUCH FURTHER WORK. REPORTS WILL INCLUDE COST-BENEFIT ANALYSES OF REPURPOSING STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES THAT ARE MOST ATTRACTIVE. A CON-OPS MEDIA PRESENTATION WILL BE DEVELOPED THROUGHOUT BOTH PHASES 10 ILLUSTRATE THE STRATEGY AND WILL BE ADDED TO AND ENHANCED AS THE PROJECT PROGRESSES.