NASA AWARDS STUDY CONTRACT TO LOCAL FIRM.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

A Palmdale company has won a $1 million contract to provide information on how NASA can best meet its goals of lowering the cost of getting into space.

Space Access was among five companies selected by NASA to give input that will support future policy decisions on ways to spur those efforts. The studies will help NASA decide whether the space shuttle should be replaced, and if so, how the transfer to new launch systems should be made.

``It looks at where they (NASA) are today and how they should go from here,'' said Steve Wurst, owner of Space Access.

Space Access is trying to develop a multistage space launch system centered on a ramjet engine using a proprietary ``ejector'' technique and powering an ``aerospaceplane'' that the company expects will prove to be vastly superior to today's rockets.

The company, which has been in Palmdale for four years, has about 30 to 40 people working on the project, mainly contractors, Wurst said.

``If we pull this off we can be the world's next Microsoft,'' he said.

The company has being keeping a low profile until it can prove its system, Wurst said, telling Aviation Week magazine earlier this year: ``The whole process of how we got to where we are now is very sensitive. So far, it hasn't been to our advantage to tell people how we're doing this.''

The other four companies selected to perform one-year studies are Boeing Information, Space and Defense Systems of Seal Beach; Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver; Orbital Sciences Corporation in Virginia; and Kelly Space and Technology Inc. of San Bernardino.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Orbital Sciences are established space launch companies. Space Access and Kelly are start-up companies trying to develop low-cost, reliable space systems.

The studies will look at scenarios that include keeping the space shuttle operational until 2020 and replacing it when cost-effective. The studies will look at investment options for the government.

Among the strategies for spurring space launch systems being considered is government loan guarantees. Lockheed Martin is seeking guarantees for $760 million as part of its business plan for VentureStar, an unmanned, reusable spacecraft the company hopes to fly in 2004.

Executives of start-up companies trying to open the space market have argued against federal loan guarantees, saying the process for receiving those guarantees would become politicized. The loan guarantees would ultimately end up in the hands of larger companies, and there would be little left for smaller ones, they say.

Wurst said he is not opposed to government loan guarantees provided they are allocated fairly.

``There is a nervousness that whatever is selected will go to reinforce the status quo,'' he said. ``(The government) needs to level the playing field.''

Another way to assist the companies in securing financing would be for the government to make commitments for using launch services. That would make it easier to attract investors.

``What's making the financial community nervous is what the government will do,'' Wurst said.