Report: Industry Eyes NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Commercialization Efforts

Some space industry executives have expressed concerns over the progress of NASA's plans to pursue commercial activities at the International Space Station after the Trump administration resumed efforts to return humans to the moon, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

Congress approved in February the fiscal 2019 omnibus spending bill, which allocates $40M for a LEO port implementation analysis and other commercial programs at ISS. Until to date, the space agency has no plans to use the funding. 

Mike French, senior vice president of commercial space at Bryce Space and Technology, said he thinks that the government's moon mission in 2024 took most of the attention. 

The report noted NASA did not proceed to a solicitation for its previously announced proposal to grant companies the last port on the space station.
 
Meanwhile, some companies saw an opportunity to offer commercial platforms for a lunar mission. 

Al Tadros, vice president of space infrastructure and civil space at Maxar Technologies, said the company helped the agency study a new space station that would support construction of spacecraft and other structures in space.