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SpaceX will develop and build a spacecraft to drive the International Space Station (ISS) out of orbit after it is decommissioned, expected no earlier than 2030, NASA said on June 26.
The contract for the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle (USDV), which will be owned and operated by NASA, is worth up to $843 million. The contract does not include spacecraft launch services, which will be procured separately.
“While the company will develop the deorbit spacecraft, NASA will take ownership after development and operate it throughout its mission. Along with the space station, it is expected to destructively break up as part of the reentry process,” NASA said in a press release.
The contract is a single-award, firm fixed-price core with indefinite delivery indefinite quantity firm fixed-price task orders, NASA said.
The U.S. Deorbit Vehicle is not a variant of Starship, NASA said, without providing additional details.
In December 2023, NASA updated its solicitation for a vehicle to deorbit the ISS, which is as large as a U.S. football field and weighs about 1 million lb., saying that bidders must include three cost development options:
•A single award hybrid cost-plus incentive fee and firm-fixed price proposal with indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) firm, fixed-price task orders
•A single award firm, fixed-price core agreement with IDIQ and firm, fixed-price task orders
•A single award hybrid cost-plus incentive fee core with IDIQ, firm, fixed-price task orders.
“The USDV… will be a new spacecraft design or modification to an existing spacecraft that must function on its first flight and have sufficient redundancy and anomaly recovery capability to continue the critical deorbit burn,” NASA wrote on Dec. 5, 2023, noting changes to the procurement strategy. “As with any development effort of this size, the USDV will take years to develop, test, and certify.”
The amended request for proposals (RFP) also included desired delivery and launch dates of Aug. 1, 2028, and Dec. 1, 2028, and required delivery and launch dates of May 1, 2029, and Sept. 1, 2029.
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