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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchIn July 2017, SpaceX executive Tim Hughes urged the U.S. government to apply the public-private partnership model used for low-Earth-orbit capabilities to deep-space exploration. He described a government-funded, COTS-like effort in which NASA would set high-level requirements and private companies would develop capabilities alongside existing plans such as the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion. It was a proposal at a Senate hearing—not evidence that a matching program was adopted.
What SpaceX asked the government to do
Tim Hughes, then SpaceX’s senior vice president for global business and government affairs, made the case at a July 2017 hearing of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness. As quoted in contemporaneous coverage, he said: “The principles applied in past programs for low Earth orbit capability can and should be applied to deep space exploration.” (Futurism, July 14, 2017)
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The reported proposal was to extend the logic of NASA’s commercial low-Earth-orbit programs: government funding would support a COTS-like deep-space effort, NASA would define high-level requirements, and private companies would develop capabilities. Hughes presented this as a parallel track that could supplement NASA’s existing exploration plans, including SLS and Orion—not replace them. The hearing account does not lay out a complete contract design, specific vehicle architecture, or cost estimate. (Senate hearing statement; Futurism)
Why Hughes pointed to COTS
NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program (COTS) was the precedent Hughes invoked. COTS concerned commercial capabilities for low-Earth orbit; the analogy was about how government and private companies could work together, not a claim that cargo or crew transport to the International Space Station was the same mission as deep-space exploration.
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In 2017, NASA described its approach as more than a decade of investment in private industry to develop capabilities and seed commercial innovation. The agency said its commercial partnerships helped build the American space economy while allowing NASA to focus on next-generation systems for exploration beyond the Moon. That is NASA’s account of the rationale for its commercial partnerships. (NASA statement, 2017)
How the 2017 proposal compares with later NASA contracting
NASA’s later Human Landing System (HLS) program illustrates a related but distinct way the agency has contracted with private companies for exploration. NASA’s NextSTEP-2 H materials describe firm-fixed-price, milestone-based proposals for crewed landing-system demonstration work; NASA selected SpaceX to develop the Starship lunar lander. (NASA NextSTEP-2 H)
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| Effort | Mission or scope | Funding or contracting detail established by the cited sources | What it does—and does not—show |
|---|---|---|---|
| NASA COTS | Commercial capability development for low-Earth orbit | NASA said in 2017 it had invested in private industry for more than a decade to develop capabilities and encourage commercial innovation. (NASA, 2017) | The model Hughes cited; not a deep-space program. |
| Hughes’s 2017 proposal | A COTS-like effort for deep-space exploration, running alongside existing NASA plans | Government funding, NASA high-level requirements, and private development were reported as the proposal’s broad elements. A complete procurement blueprint, payment structure, and cost estimate are not stated in the cited accounts. (Futurism; Senate hearing statement) | An advocacy proposal, not proof that the government created or funded the proposed program. |
| NASA HLS | Commercial development of crewed lunar landing systems | NASA’s FY2025 budget justification, published in 2024, lists a $2.89 billion total award value for SpaceX HLS Option A and a $1.15 billion Option B modification for an upgraded Starship lunar lander and a second crewed mission. These are award values in that document, not actual expenditure or total HLS program cost. (NASA FY2025 budget justification) | A later example of milestone-based contracting for a specific lunar program; it does not establish adoption of Hughes’s broader 2017 proposal. |
Was SpaceX’s proposed deep-space partnership adopted?
The cited accounts establish that Hughes advocated extending commercial partnership principles to deep space, and that later NASA programs used private-sector, milestone-based contracting for lunar systems. They do not establish that NASA or the U.S. government adopted a single program matching his 2017 proposal. HLS is evidence of a related contracting mechanism in a separate lunar procurement, not confirmation that the proposed broader deep-space track came into being.
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- Collector quality
- 1/235 scale model
- Sturdy display stand
- Authentic, detailed replica
- Designed for collectors ages 14 & Up
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