Nasa has partnered with four US-based companies to develop new commercial space capabilities for the agency and its customers.
Selected companies are ATK Space Systems, Final Frontier Design, Space Exploration Technologies and United Launch Alliance.
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The new partnerships are designed to accelerate private sector development of integrated space capabilities through Nasa’s spaceflight resources.
The Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities initiative is built on Nasa’s commercial spaceflight initiative.
Nasa commercial spaceflight development director Phil McAlister said: "Companies in all shapes and sizes are investing their own capital toward innovative commercial space capabilities.
"These awards demonstrate the diversity and maturity of the commercial space industry."
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By GlobalDataThe companies will develop space logistics, hosted payload, intra-vehicular activity space suits, technologies that could be used to support missions into deep-space, and reduce cost and enhance performance.
The agreements do not include exchange of funds and each company will bear the cost of its participation, Nasa said.
Nasa will contribute technical expertise, assessments, lessons learned, technologies and data.
Other collaborations of Nasa include Lunar CATALYST, Asteroid Redirect Mission Broad Agency Announcement, Commercial Orbital Transportation Services.
Earlier this year, the agency selected Boeing and SpaceX to develop human transportation capabilities to fly astronauts to the space station and back.
Nasa is also working on the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS), to provide a new capability for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions across the solar system.
