DRAPER LAUNCHES BID FOR MOON TRIP
Cambridge co. vies for $2.6B NASA grant
A Cambridge-based nonprofit that created the navigation system for Apollo is competing with private companies across the country to be the next American entity to land on the moon. “Navigating humans to the moon and back nearly 50 years ago was an incredibly proud moment for the engineers and scientists at Draper,” CEO Kaigham Gabriel said. “That legacy continues as we return to the moon and beyond with CLPS.” Draper, a research and development company, is one of nine private U.S. firms participating in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) initiative, competing for a share of up to $2.6 billion over the next 10 years to deliver experiments to the lunar surface. The space agency will buy the service and let the private industry work out the details on getting there, according to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. The approach is unusual for NASA, said HarvardSmithsonian astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who said NASA usually maintains control down to the “last rivet of a spacecraft.” The research will help get astronauts back to the moon more quickly and safely, according to NASA officials. The initial deliveries likely will include radiation monitors, laser reflectors for gravity and other measurements. “I would say NASA is taking a risk but that’s not a bad thing. This is rolling some dice on this alternative method of trying to get data,” McDowell said. “The likeliness of succeeding — I’m skeptical that many will.” Even Bridenstine said that while NASA wants the companies to succeed, the space agency is certain some of the efforts will fail. “These are not expensive missions,” Bridenstine said. “This is like a venture capital kind of effort where at the end of the day, the risk is high but the return is also very high for a low investment.” Draper has been involved in the space program since the early days, McDowell said, and is a “very well-established company with a strong engineering reputation.” “They haven’t done spacecraft so this is a bit of a new departure for them,” McDowell said. “Draper is one of the ones that I have more confidence in, and it will be interesting to see from a Bostonian point of view.” The announcement came just three days after NASA landed a spacecraft on Mars.