Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington      
202-358-1100
jbuck@nasa.gov

Loretta DeSio
National Reconnaissance Office
703-808-2655
DeSioLor@nro.mil

Tracy A. Bunko
United States Air Force
703-571-2777
tracy.bunko@pentagon.af.mil  


RELEASE: 11-348

NASA, NRO, USAF ESTABLISH STRATEGY FOR CERTIFYING NEW EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLES

WASHINGTON -- NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the
U.S. Air Force signed an agreement this week to establish clear
criteria for certification of commercial providers of launch vehicles
used for national security space and civil space missions.

The U.S. government is committed to procuring commercial launch
services for its satellite and robotic missions, including Evolved
Expendable Launch Vehicle, or EELV, launches. The new entrant launch
vehicle certification strategy is the latest step in a cooperative
effort by the Air Force, NASA and NRO to take advantage of new launch
capability for the three agencies' missions.

The agencies previously signed a Letter of Intent in October 2010,
signaling their collaboration on launch requirements. A memorandum of
understanding was signed in March, outlining their plans for future
EELV-class launch vehicle acquisition, including the need for a
coordinated strategy for certification of new entrant launch systems.


The basis of the new strategy comes from NASA's existing policy
directive for launch vehicle risk mitigation. It also recognizes that
mission-unique requirements from each of the three agencies may
result in different certification approaches to mitigate launch risk.
The document provides a common framework and language among the
agencies for communicating expectations to new launch service
providers.

The risk-based certification framework allows the agencies to consider
both the cost and risk tolerance of the payload and their confidence
in the launch vehicle. For payloads with higher risk tolerance, the
agencies may consider use of launch vehicles with a higher risk
category rating and provide an opportunity for new commercial
providers to gain experience launching government payloads.

Within a given risk category rating, if new entrants have launch
vehicles with a demonstrated successful flight history, then the
government may require less technical evaluation for non-recurring
certification of the new launch system. This new strategy further
enables competition from emerging, commercially developed launch
capabilities for future Air Force, NASA, and NRO missions.



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