ULA and SpaceDev to compete on the LEO Front

SpaceX and Rp/K watch out, ULA and SpaceDev are coming too. I guess ULA figured out how much money was going to be made. Heaven help us.

United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and SpaceDev, a small entrepreneur driven company, both expect to compete in the developing arena, company officials said at the 10th annual commercial space transportation conference.

"We're very excited about the new low earth orbit marketplace," said George Sowers, an executive with ULA.

The joint venture's Atlas V and Delta IV heavy lift vehicles are proven, reliable and available right away when NASA begins purchasing non-governmental launch services to re-supply the International Space Station, perhaps as soon as 2010, Sowers said.

Sowers added that the company is far along in obtaining a human rating for the Atlas V launcher, which would then make it qualified to compete to haul astronauts to the space station.

And from SpaceDev

Jim Benson, a space entrepreneur working to fund and build the six-person Dream Chaser tourist spaceship for launch possibly as soon as 2008, said his company's launchers and vehicles will be ready to compete for the NASA business as well.

"I hope the COTS contractors are successful but if they are not, we're on a parallel path," Benson said.