NASA Announces Commercial RLV Technology Roadmap Project

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WASHINGTON -- NASA is partnering with the U.S. Air Force Research
Laboratory to develop a technology roadmap for the commercial
reusable launch vehicle, or RLV, industry.

"NASA is committed to stimulating the emerging commercial reusable
launch vehicle industry," said Lori Garver, deputy administrator at
NASA Headquarters in Washington. "There is a natural evolutionary
path from today's emerging commercial suborbital RLV industry to
growing and developing the capability to provide low-cost, frequent
and reliable access to low Earth orbit. One part of our plan is to
partner with other federal agencies to develop a consensus roadmap of
the commercial RLV industry's long-range technology needs."

The study will focus on identifying technologies and assessing their
potential use to accelerate the development of commercial reusable
launch vehicles that have improved reliability, availability, launch
turn-time, robustness and significantly lower costs than current
launch systems. The study results will provide roadmaps with
recommended government technology tasks and milestones for different
vehicle categories.

"Low-cost and reliable access to space will deliver significant
benefits to all NASA's existing missions, from science to human
exploration to aeronautics, as well as to our nation's security and
to national economic growth," said Doug Comstock, director of NASA's
Innovative Partnerships Program at NASA Headquarters. "Part of our
plan is to apply lessons learned from the recent past and also the
great successes of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in
stimulating the American commercial airplane industry nearly 100
years ago."

This NASA and Air Force study will begin at the Commercial and
Government Responsive Access to Space Technology Exchange 2009, held
in Dayton, Ohio, Oct. 26-29. NASA and the Air Force Research Lab,
with participation from the Federal Aviation Administration's Office
of Commercial Space Transportation, will meet with representatives
from the commercial RLV industry to explore and understand their
long-range growth plans and the technology they could use to
implement those plans successfully.

NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program is leading the study. For more
information about the Innovative Partnerships Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/home

For more information about the Commercial RLV Technology Roadmap
study, visit:

http://commercialspaceinitiatives.arc.nasa.gov

For more information about the Commercial and Government Responsive
Access to Space Technology Exchange 2009, visit:

http://www.usasymposium.com/craste