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Description

The COTS program had many innovative proposals, and some less innovative. Several bids simply took existing international cargo vehicles and stuck them on American rockets, like this concept for a Mitsubishi (not JAXA! Remember, this is c o m m e r c i a l) HTV atop an Atlas V. Similar proposals were also made using ATV and Progress spacecraft, and using other rockets ranging from Antares up to Delta IV Heavy.

Ultimately these off-the-shelf solutions were not competitive, nor in the spirit of the program. But Orbital Sciences managed to win a contract while still making use of extensive Italian, Japanese, German, Russian, and Ukrainian heritage.

There was also the related Payload Bay Fairing concept, with a dumb barge launched by AV or DIVH then tugged to ISS by ATV or Progress. That ones a bit more interesting though.

My Atlas V and HTV models are available on CGTrader

Like my work? Please support it on my Patreon

Description

The COTS program had many innovative proposals, and some less innovative. Several bids simply took existing international cargo vehicles and stuck them on American rockets, like this concept for a Mitsubishi (not JAXA! Remember, this is c o m m e r c i a l) HTV atop an Atlas V. Similar proposals were also made using ATV and Progress spacecraft, and using other rockets ranging from Antares up to Delta IV Heavy.

Ultimately these off-the-shelf solutions were not competitive, nor in the spirit of the program. But Orbital Sciences managed to win a contract while still making use of extensive Italian, Japanese, German, Russian, and Ukrainian heritage.

There was also the related Payload Bay Fairing concept, with a dumb barge launched by AV or DIVH then tugged to ISS by ATV or Progress. That ones a bit more interesting though.

My Atlas V and HTV models are available on CGTrader

Like my work? Please support it on my Patreon