Chances for the winner beyond contract with Bigelow?

There may be a chnace for the ASP-winner beyond getting a contract with Bigelow or being part of orbital tourism.

The winner will have the first vehicle that is able to dock to Nautilus.

This would mean that the winner would be the first one who has the required docking mechanism.

And then there would be a system which would work at Mars too. NASA could buy or lease a Nautilus from Bigelow to install it in an orbit around Mars - and NASA could buy or lease the docking mechanism from the ASP-winner.

More would be possible - NASA could lease the private orbital vehicle to use it as a ferry between NASA's own MARS-vehicle and the Nautilus orbiting Mars.

Surely - this would apply at the moon too and it's not that new. But I want to change the focus a little bit for a while to prevent that a potential market segment is going to be forgotten.

The winner of the ASP might be a remarkable competitor or concurrent of the CEV designers and constructors.



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

I don't think NASA should be leasing anything, I think it should just do R&D, which is what it was meant to do. Let the market handle the actual execution of the plan.

Okay, off my soap box...

Once the prize is won and the contract awarded, remember the contract winner may not be the prize winner, the companies with working systems will probably have plenty of customers for both seats and cargo space.

Additionally, I postulate that more companies will establish orbital destinations when they see the amount of revenue that is possible.

Ron

still, if orbit is half way to anywhere then having bigelow stations anywhere in orbit around anything could be a place to go re supply etc before the next place, maybe earth orbit then to one at l1 the moon, why not?

The trouble with re-supply at orbital depots is that you need to get those supplies into orbit in the first place. It is a chicken and egg problem. Or maybe a catch 22.