Posted: Tue, Dec 16, 2003, 2:23 PM ET (1923 GMT)
NASA released an announcement for a study contract to explore the launch of a tether system by Sea Launch, only to revoke the announcement a day later. On December 11 NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center issued a presolicitation notice, saying it planned to award a sole-source contract to the multinational Sea Launch consortium to study the launch of a very heavy — up to 16-tonne — payload into an equatorial low Earth orbit. The next day, however, NASA revoked the notice without offering any comment for the reason. SpaceRef reported that the purpose of the study was to explore how the Sea Launch Zenit 3SL vehicle could be used to launch a proposed tether experiment planned for next decade. NASA had pulled the notice because it had been issued prematurely, NASA officials said, and without proper coordination within the agency. NASA gave no indication when the notice would be re-released.

Related Links:

•  SpaceRef article
•  Space News article (subscription required)