NASA’s CCiCap: Can Space Taxis Help the Pentagon?

Boeing CST-100

With competition coming at last to American military satellite launches, civilian developments take on new importance. A NASA program called Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) is a major source of potential funds for key players in space launch and space vehicles, which could solve a civilian problem while improving the military’s options.

With the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, American manned missions to the International Space Station have mostly involved Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, which costs about $63 million per seat. The lone exception has involved the commercial space innovator SpaceX, whose unmanned Dragon v1.0 capsule docked at the ISS in May 2012. NASA continues to pursue its own Space Launch System heavy rocket and Orion capsule for manned spaceflight, but in the mean time, its Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) program aims to spur development of lower-cost American options that could supplant or supplement Soyuz.

These “space taxis” will rely on heavy-lift rockets to make it into space. Their purpose isn’t military, but their configurations are very good news for the USA’s space industrial base…

Airbus Announces Defense Slimdown, Confirms Exit from Atlas Elektronik

• Airbus outlined the shape of its future defense and space business, with several subsidiaries and participations officially on the block. This includes the Atlas Elektronik joint venture with Thyssen-Krupp. The two partners are to start talks though it’s unclear whether Thyssen-Krupp wants to buy Airbus’ 49% stake. Thales had shown interest back in 2005 but was beaten by the EADS/Thyssen bid for the naval specialist.

• According to the Financial Times Poland is about to withdraw from the Visegrad Group, a joint defense project with Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Poland reportedly doubts that the smaller members will contribute enough. The 4 members also are divided [TOL] on whether sanctions is the right response to Russian aggression in Ukraine. It seems the group may refocus [Slovak Spectator] on economic and infrastructure concerns.