/sci/ - Science & Math

NASA updating policy for rideshare missions
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https://spacenews.com/nasa-updating-policy-for-rideshare-missions/
> WASHINGTON — NASA is developing an updated rideshare policy for science missions that reflects both new launch opportunities as well as challenges faced in accommodating secondary payloads.
> The policy dates back to 2018, when Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science, announced that the agency would use excess capacity on launches of science missions to carry smallsat secondary payloads. NASA established a rideshare office to coordinate those opportunities in 2020.
>That “very significant” update, she said, would include other rideshare opportunities. The original policy involved excess capacity on NASA science mission launches, but the new one will include the Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract vehicle as well as other options, such as rideshare launches on NASA Artemis missions and from other government agencies
> Unique requirements for NASA science missions, even smallsat missions, can make it difficult to find adequate rideshare opportunities. “All of our missions are different. They have unique trajectories. They all have different science,” she said. That rules out the use of launches like SpaceX’s Transporter series, which launches spacecraft to sun-synchronous orbit, or its new Bandwagon line of mid-inclination rideshare launches.
> “Small missions may have to spend a little more money on mission assurance to take advantage of rideshare to ride along with the higher mission assurance launches,” she said. “It’s not free, but it’s still worth the cost of finding a launch.”

I didn't actually understand what the new policy would be? Getting dedicated launches instead of putting some payloads only as rideshares?