Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

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SPACE AS AN INVESTMENT IN ECONOMIC GROWTH
• NASA agreed not to fund or formally solicit the development of competitive or alternate
system.
• NASA agreed to provide suitable building facilities at [Kennedy Space Center] for
PAM processing activities with reimbursement as a part of the Shuttle launch service
contract with each customer using PAM.
• NASA agreed to provide interface data and technically monitor the project.
The first commercial PAM contract was signed between Hughes and McDonnell
Douglas in 1978. The first flight was successful for Satellite Business Systems on Delta in
November 1980. The first two flights on Shuttle were successfully completed in November
1982. To mid-1983, McDonnell Douglas had contracted 29 PAM-D missions and successfully
flown 10 out of 10 scheduled.
In 1977 McDonnell Douglas signed a similar agreement to develop a larger PAM for
Shuttle launch only called “PAM-A.” This version has comparable payload capability to the
Atlas Centaur ELV. After a competition with another aerospace firm, NASA awarded
McDonnell Douglas a Firm Fixed Price Contract for 6 PAM-A launches which has subsequently
been increased to 8. There are, however, no currently assigned missions for PAM-
A and no commercial sales have been achieved.
In 1982 customers began requesting additional performance from the PAM-D system,
but short of the more expensive PAM-A capability. As a result McDonnell Douglas decided
to commercially undertake a growth version called “PAM-DII,” which includes a new
motor and raises the payload capability to approximately 4100 lbs. into the geosynchronous
transfer orbit. An initial commercial contract resulted from a 1983 order by GTE
Satellite Corporation. NASA has agreed to provide technical monitoring.
In early 1983 NASA entered into a cooperative agreement with Orbital Systems
Corporation, an entirely new company, to provide for the production of another shuttlecompatible
upper stage, the Transfer Orbit Stage (TOS). NASA has no current need for
such an upper stage for its in-house programs but is cooperating with Orbital Systems to
optimize Shuttle capabilities for commercial customers who may wish to purchase such an
upper stage. The TOS is privately funded but has NASA technical monitoring and NASA’s
agreement not to build a competing upper stage.
b. Joint Endeavor Agreements. The Joint Endeavor Agreement (JEA) was originally
developed to facilitate NASA’s interest in involving the private sector in materials processing
in space (MPS) but its basic provisions are applicable to other areas of space industrialization.
The JEA is a cooperative arrangement in which private participants and NASA share
common program objectives, program responsibilities, and financial risk. The objective of
a JEA is to encourage early space ventures and demonstrate the usefulness of space technology
to meet marketplace needs. A JEA is a legal agreement between equal partners,
and is not a procurement action; no funds are exchanged between NASA and the industrial
partner. A private participant selects an experiment and/or technology demonstration
for a joint endeavor which complies with MPS program objectives, conducts the
necessary ground investigation, and develops flight hardware at company expense. As
incentive for this investment, NASA agrees to provide free Shuttle flights for projects
which meet certain basic criteria, such as technical merit, contribution to innovation, and
acceptable business arrangements. As further incentive, the participant is allowed to
retain certain proprietary rights to the results, particularly the nonpatentable information
that yields a competitive edge in marketing products based on MPS results. However,
NASA receives sufficient data to evaluate the significance of the results and requires that
any promising technologies be applied commercially on a timely basis, or published.