CASIS Is Still Broken

Recently there has been a lot of talk about halting NASA funding for the International Space station is 2024 with the hope that all of the costs currently paid for by NASA would be picked up by the private sector.
NASA hopes to use the savings they expect to achieve to pay for the Gateway and its Moon/Mars plans. So … who will handle the commercialization of the ISS? When you ask NASA if CASIS is part of that plan they say yes – but never get too much into the details.

Apparently NASA is not too thrilled with CASIS either. This 16 November 2017 letter from Sam Scimemi at NASA to CASIS is rather blunt. There will be much more to follow as to how CASIS says it will respond to NASA’s concerns and what led up to this situation.

Letter from NASA to CASIS Regarding Complaints About CASIS Activities

“I am writing this letter to you to address recent complaints about CASIS activities that have been brought to my attention both by the ISS Program and by outside stakeholders that require serious and immediate attention. Additionally, it is necessary to communicate some significant concerns brought forward by a number of the National Laboratory’s commercial implementation partners (CIPs) so that actions may be taken to address these issues.

As part of NASA’s oversight of agreements with companies who operate their own commercial hardware on ISS, NASA solicits feedback from them annually to assess their satisfaction with progress towards a robust commercial presence in space and to solicit opinions on any changes that may be needed. There were a number of positives from these exchanges; however, a number of items were raised indicating possible trends that must be addressed. NASA’s chief concerns include the following: …”