SHUTTLING IDEAS; COMPANIES VIE TO PARTNER WITH NASA.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Three Palmdale companies are offering differing opinions to NASA on how, or even if, the space shuttle should be replaced.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin and entrepreneurial start-up Space Access each touted their own spacecraft as the centerpiece of plans to meet the nation's space needs.

The three companies were among aerospace contractors large and small from which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration commissioned studies in an effort to develop a space travel investment strategy for the next century.

The contractor reports are being evaluated at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin is scheduled to make recommendations to the Clinton administration this fall as part of the fiscal 2001 budget process.

NASA's own study suggests all three options have merit, depending on what philosophy NASA leadership wants to take. If the ultimate goal is to maintain the shuttle while reducing costs for trips to the International Space Station, then the best strategy is to invest in shuttle upgrades, NASA said.

That option would provide the least risk for the agency.

If the goal, however, is to make the nation more competitive in the commercial space market, then NASA should invest in developing single- or two-stage spacecraft. That option, however, has the highest technological risks and would likely require substantial government investment, the report said.

``Not enough knowledge is available today to commit to a shuttle replacement,'' the NASA report said.

Boeing, which owns the former Rockwell divisions that built the space shuttles in the 1970s and 1980s, is recommending the space agency continue to invest in improvements to the orbiter fleet and keep the five shuttles flying through at least 2010.

Operating costs can be cut from $2.4 billion a year to $1.8 billion through improvements to the fleet and in operating contract incentives, Boeing says.

``With minimal investment in upgrades to avoid obsolescence, the shuttle can fly beyond 2020,'' the Boeing report said.

Lockheed Martin states the most savings can be gleaned from phasing out the shuttle in favor of a single-stage-to-orbit spaceship the company is developing in Palmdale called VentureStar. NASA could save $14.5 billion by the year 2020 with that approach, Lockheed Martin says.

Lockheed Martin is advocating the use of federal loan guarantees as a way to spur private investment to help finance the development of VentureStar.

Space Access LLC states NASA should invest in its plans for a three-stage rocket-ramjet system to put satellites into orbit and a two-stage variant to take people to the International Space Station. The launch system could save NASA $40 million by 2020, the company claims.

``Space Access recommends the government provide incentives in the form of advanced purchase launch agreements to replace shuttle flights, thereby promoting the commercial development of multiple launch systems that benefit both the government and commercial sectors,'' the company report said.

Space Access is also advocating that NASA should apply Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness standards for commercial aircraft to emerging spacecraft. That would promote spacecraft designs that would enhance safety and reliability, the company says, and those same standards should be used as benchmarks for providing incentives to private industry.

While NASA moves toward a decision about the future, all three Palmdale companies continue to work on their spacecraft.

Boeing is anticipating receiving a contract this summer to conduct modifications on the orbiter Columbia, beginning in late summer or early fall.

Boeing typically employs about 300 people on shuttle modification projects.

As a steppingstone to VentureStar, Lockheed Martin is building the X-33, an experimental aircraft designed to fly at more than 13 times the speed of sound. While the X-33 will not go into space, it will test technologies and designs Lockheed Martin will use on VentureStar.

NASA awarded the Skunk Works a $941 million contract to develop the X-33. Lockheed Martin is investing more than $200 million of its own money in the project.

Space Access's launch plans center around a first stage that would use a high-performance ejector ramjet propulsion system. The first stage will take off horizontally from a runway, climb out of the atmosphere and then deploy the second stage.

The second stage, powered by a conventional rocket engine, would accelerate into low earth orbit. A third stage, also using a conventional rocket engine, would power a satellite into its proper orbit.

Space Access is also developing a variant that would use a modified second stage to take up to five people to the space station.