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NextSTEP

Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships

NextSTEP seeks commercial development of new capabilities for human missions in deep space.

About

NextSTEP is a public-private partnership model.

NextSTEP seeks commercial development of new capabilities for human missions in deep space.

NASA has increasingly embraced public-private partnerships for achieving its strategic goals and objectives for expanding the frontiers of knowledge, capabilities, and opportunities in space. The next step for human spaceflight is the development of deep space exploration capabilities and demonstrating these capabilities in cislunar space. An important part of NASA’s strategy is to stimulate the commercial space industry while leveraging those same commercial capabilities through future contracts and public-private partnerships to deliver mission capabilities. The initial Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) was released in 2014 with selections made in 2015. This effort, NextSTEP-2, will solicit additional proposals to continue NASA’s development of space exploration technologies, capabilities, and concepts. The Omnibus BAA will be amended with each new appendix release. The current version is available below:

NextSTEP-2 Omnibus BAA about NextSTEP is a public-private partnership model.
Concept illustration of the interior of a deep space habitat medical bay.