NASA has awarded Axiom Space a potential $140M indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to build a habitable module that would connect to the International Space Station to support the agency's initiative of promoting commercial use of the orbiting laboratory.
On Feb. 28, NASA released an award notice on the beta SAM website for Appendix I of its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships broad agency announcement, which calls for the establishment of long-term commercial operations in low-Earth orbit.
The agency approved the Houston-based space company’s proposal for the NextSTEP-2 Appendix I effort in January.
In a separate notice, NASA said the project covers the construction of at least one module designed to integrate with ISS’s Node 2 port and facilitate demonstration of commercial technologies to support future agency missions.
The multiphase NextSTEP-2 program also includes a task order for business strategy development and a possible second order for early design and maturation activities.
The final phase will encompass design, development, test and evaluation of a resulting technology.
According to NASA, hardware created for NextSTEP-2 will be fully developer-owned and operated throughout the completion of spaceflight demonstrations.
