Nasa has selected four US-based companies to provide commercial suborbital flight services.

Selected companies are Masten Space Systems, Paragon Space Development, Up Aerospace and Virgin Galactic.

The move is part of Nasa’s efforts to promote commercial reusable suborbital platforms, which facilitate testing of new space technologies within Earth’s atmosphere.

Nasa said: "Through these new awards, selected companies will receive an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for integration and flight services, drawing from a pool of commercial space companies."

"Through these new awards, selected companies will receive an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for integration and flight services, drawing from a pool of commercial space companies."

Under the three-year contracts, the companies will carry a variety of technology payloads on commercial suborbital reusable platforms, to cater to the agency’s research and technology requirements.

With a minimum value of $100,000 each, the contracts have two-year extension options and are the logical extension of Nasa’s earlier contracts awarded in 2011.

Nasa Space Technology associate administrator Michael Gazarik said: "We’ve made tremendous progress in working toward the goal of regular, frequent and predictable access to near-space at a reasonable cost with easy recovery of intact payloads.

"These proven flight service providers will allow for payloads from organizations including Nasa, industry, academia, and other government agencies to be tested on flights to the edge of space before being committed to demonstration in the harsh environment of space itself."

Managed at Nasa’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, the flight opportunities programme is being undertaken by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is designed to advance technologies to flight readiness status for future space missions.

Nasa said: "During the coming year, Nasa’s Space Technology Mission Directorate will make significant new investments that address several high priority challenges for achieving safe and affordable deep space exploration."

Defence Technology