Monday, October 13, 2014

Why NASA did NOT Select Sierra Nevada's DreamChaser

As Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) restart work on commercial crew contracts following NASA’s Oct 9. decision to lift a stop-work order, details of an internal agency document reveal why the bid from losing competitor Sierra Nevada lost out.

The three companies competed for $6.8 billion worth of Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CctCap) contracts to transport NASA astronauts to the international space station (ISS) starting in 2017. However, following the awards of work to Boeing for the CST-100 and to SpaceX for the Dragon V2, Sierra Nevada -- which proposed the Dream Chaser lifting body -- filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Sept 26, citing “inconsistencies in the source selection process.”

In response, NASA issued a stop-work order to Boeing and SpaceX on Oct 2, only to rescind it a week later on the grounds that a delay to development of the transportation service, “poses risks to the ISS crew, jeopardizes continued operation of the ISS, would delay meeting critical crew size requirements, and may result in the U.S. failing to perform the commitments it made in its international agreements.” The GAO has until Jan. 5, 2015, to rule on Sierra Nevada’s protest.

The internal document, signed by NASA Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier on Sept. 15, the day before the contract awards were announced, says, “I consider SNC’s (Sierra Nevada Corp.) design to be the lowest level of maturity, with significantly more technical work and critical design decisions to accomplish. The proposal did not thoroughly address these design challenges and trades.” Gerstenmaier goes on to say that Sierra’s proposal “has more schedule uncertainty. For example, some of the testing planned after the crewed flight could be required before the crewed flight, and the impact of this movement will greatly stress the schedule.”

A copy of Gerstenmaier’s document was obtained by Aviation Week.

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