COTS Questions

COTS Questions

John Kavanagh of COTS Watch is asking NASA some tough questions:

Why should institutional investors fund a COTS venture when NASA is building a competing Block 1 CEV that can perform the same duties as a COTS service?

Down the road, why should NASA purchase the affordable crew/cargo services of a COTS venture when NASA is already spending many billions on infrastructure to support Block 1 CEV flights?

...Will Ares 1 development delays and inadequate budget be the best hope for COTS ventures - since ISS would need supplies and the CEV would be unavailable?

Or is it more likely that NASA will raid COTS funding if Ares 1 or CEV development goes over budget?

There are more questions there, which ought to be making NASA executives squirm, when combined with last week's Space Frontier Foundation report and the Government Accountability Office report.

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