The sixteen partners in the International Space Station (ISS) project currently spend well over $1 billion per year to resupply ISS.  NASA’s budget for ISS crew and cargo services is scheduled to grow to approximately $500 million per year after the Space Shuttle is retired in 2010.  Meanwhile, private ventures are planning private space stations which will need low cost economical resupply.

Applying Commercial Business Approaches to "Just Another Place" 

Each and every commercial cargo transportation industry, whether on land, on the sea, or in the air, has been transformed by the introduction of intermodal transportation and standardized cargo containers. By applying this proven business model to space, CSI can significantly reduce the costs of re-supplying the ISS and future commercial space stations, while increasing logistical flexibility and robustness. 

Currently each space transportation system requires its own end-to-end, launch vehicle-specific solution for cargo delivery. CSI's patented service "disaggregates" the space logistics supply chain into an orbital space tug and a standardized cargo container.  Since the launch vehicle only transports the cargo container, and not the entire spacecraft, the CSI service delivers more cargo to orbit for any given launch vehicle . If one launch vehicle becomes unavailable because of technical problems, the standardized container can easily be launched on other launch vehicles. The LEO Express^SM system, using CSI's proprietary and open standard, also enables the selection of the lowest cost supplier for each segment of the chain, which increases competition and saves customers considerable money and time while improving services.

CSI’s LEO Express^SM system can use many spacecraft as orbital space tugs.  The earliest tug the system can use is the existing Progress spacecraft which is already certified for ISS operations.  Over time as the Crew Exploration Vehicle, or other spacecraft, become certified for ISS operations they also might be converted to a reusable orbital tug.

Beyond Space Station Resupply

CSI’s intermodal architecture with standardized containers for space cargo delivery has other commercial applications, most notably as an affordable, near-term capability for sending humans around the Moon, or even into Lunar Orbit. And by sparking a normal market-driven trend towards more affordable cargo delivery to crewed platforms in Earth orbit, CSI will make new innovative markets for human space operations in LEO economically feasible, including larger-scale orbital tourism, satellite retrieval, maintenance, or repair, and exploration.

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