“My job now is to make sure that we can transport this kind of [of Discovery] Within the budget dollars we have available. And of course, most importantly, ensuring the safety of the vehicle,” Isaacman said in an interview with CNBC. “If we can’t do that, you know what? We have spacecraft going around the Moon with Artemis II, III, IV and V.
“Example Example”
The draft RFP does not state if NASA has any preference regarding the two outcomes. Instead, it sets out both possibilities as “illustrative examples” and requests in-depth answers (not to exceed 40 pages) on what it would take to accomplish each, including engineering analysis, transportation planning, conservation measures, special rigging systems, infrastructure coordination, regulatory compliance, and “coordinated multimodal transportation execution.”
“One example addresses the conceptual transfer of a large aerospace vehicle comparable in size and complexity to a Space Shuttle orbiter or solid rocket booster. The second example addresses the transportation of a small spacecraft capsule comparable in size and complexity to the Orion crew module or the Mercury capsule,” the draft request reads. “These examples are intended to represent the range of transportation scenarios that NASA may need to support under this contract vehicle.”
NASA is also seeking cost estimates (though not binding price proposals) to plan and achieve each step within a five-year period.
As noted by “multimodal” in the title, NASA expects multiple types of transportation to be used in the delivery. It leaves those choices up to each respondent, but identifies possibilities to include “airlift, sealift, rail transport, overland heavy transport and barge transport”, among other specialized modes of transport.
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