NASA Drops an Interesting RFI

NASA dropped an interesting Request For Information, a step in the bidding and contract process, back on April 1st, of all days.  What an RFI typically does is talk about some goal that the agency has and ask companies with expertise (real or imagined) in the area to comment on it.  It's almost an open conversation with the goal of defining something that a Request for Proposal can be issued on.  Teslarati did an article on the RFI yesterday, but I just skimmed it while looking for more interesting or more important topics and missed an interesting aspect or two.  

To begin with, this RFI is about a program bid that SpaceX won almost two years to the day earlier; March 27, 2020.

Known as Dragon XL, that spacecraft would weigh around 15 to 16 tons (~33,000-35,000 lb) at liftoff and likely require a fully or partially expendable Falcon Heavy launch for each mission to the Moon. At the time, it was a fairly balanced and reasonable choice on NASA’s part, leveraging existing investments and experience with SpaceX and Dragon and erecting no major technical hurdles. 

So it's a strange little fact in my mind that NASA still hasn’t started work on the contract two years later, and actually has delayed work on the contract.  I think this RFI might well contain the reason.  

That’s why the new April 1st RFI is so intriguing. NASA begins by referencing fine print in the original 2018 Gateway Logistics Services (GLS) Request For Proposals (RFP) that allows the agency to continue receiving and considering new proposals from new and existing providers throughout the program’s planned 17-year lifespan. The agency says its primary motivations are for “information and planning purposes, to request feedback, to promote competition,” and to “[determine] whether to conduct an on-ramp in 2022.” NASA doesn’t specify what exactly that means, but in the context of the rest of the text, it appears that the agency wants to use this RFI to help determine whether or not to finally “on-ramp” its existing Dragon XL contract with SpaceX.

The real meat of the RFI and what I missed is that as you read down in the document, NASA repeatedly hints at a desire to substantially expand the scope of GLS.  In the last of eight things to comment on, NASA asks if, to help “create a vibrant supply chain in deep space,” respondents would be able to deliver additional cargo to “cislunar orbits [and] the lunar surface” or offer a “dedicated delivery tug capability” or “rapid response delivery service.”

NASA also asks for information on ways prospective GLS providers could “[minimize] the cost impact of…requirement changes,” “reduce operating costs,” and “minimize upfront costs.” In questions #2 and #3, NASA requests details about “new and/or innovative capabilities” that could “significantly increase…cargo delivery capacity” within “the next five years” and states that “offerors exceeding the minimum [cargo] capabilities may be viewed more favorably.”

In what seems to be written specifically to SpaceX, question #1 says, “Is your company interested in on-ramping to the GLS contract to provide Logistics Services as described in the original solicitation?”  The reality here is that SpaceX is very likely to be the only company in the world that could begin work on the job. 

Editor's note: turning nouns like “on-ramp” into verbs like “on-ramping” is one of the seven deadly warning signs of becoming what is referred to as “overhead” which all companies strive to reduce or eliminate.  

There are several interesting little hints that author Eric Ralph leaves in the last few paragraphs, but concludes with 

Put simply, while it does open the door for just about any US company to inform NASA about new GLS options, it’s hard not to conclude that this new RFI is at least partially designed to give SpaceX an opportunity to propose Dragon XL alternatives or upgrades.

If you're like me, you probably thought about Starship around the start of the article.  Ralph points out that Starship is actually far too big for this mission.  The Lunar Gateway, another payload going into space on a Falcon Heavy, has a visiting vehicle mass limit of 14 tons.  At that point, Starship will very likely weigh over 100 tons; perhaps far over 100 tons.

The Gateway’s first two modules are tentatively working towards a launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket no earlier than late 2024. (NASA)

NASA is planning to hold an industry day on April 20th to better explain the RFI’s goals and wants responses to the RFI by May 31st, 2022, after which the agency will decide whether or not to follow up with a solicitation or on-ramp Dragon XL.