COTS meaning in Space Science ?

Answer:

What is Commercial Orbital Transportation Services mean?

Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) was a NASA program to coordinate the development of vehicles for the delivery of crew and cargo to the International Space Station by private companies. The program was announced on January 18, 2006 and successfully flew all cargo demonstration flights by September 2013, when the program ended.

NASA's Final Report on the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program considers it an unqualified success and a model for future public-private collaboration. Compared to traditional costs-plus contracts employed by NASA, such as the $12 billion Orion (spacecraft) contract, the unprecedented efficiency of the $800 million COTS investment resulted in "two new U.S. medium-class launch vehicles and two automated cargo spacecraft".

NASA signed COTS agreements with SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) in 2006, but later terminated the agreement with RpK due to insufficient private funding. NASA then signed an agreement with Orbital Sciences in 2008. Independently, NASA awarded contracts for cargo delivery to the International Space Station in December 2008, to Orbital Sciences and SpaceX to utilize their COTS cargo vehicles.

COTS is related but separate from the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program. COTS related to the development of the vehicles, CRS to the actual deliveries. COTS involved a number of Space Act Agreements, with NASA providing milestone-based payments. COTS did not involve binding contracts. CRS on the other hand does involve legally binding contracts, which means the suppliers would be liable if they failed to perform. Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) is a related program, aimed specifically at developing crew rotation services. It is similar to COTS-D. All three programs are managed by NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO).

reference

Full Form	Category
Coastal Observation Technology System	Academic & Science
Champion Optical Technology Services	Business
Council On Technology Services	Business
Church Of The Savior	Community
Committee on Temporary Shelter	Community
Collegiate Officers Training School	Community
Church On The Street	Community
Committee On The Shelterless	Community
Chapter Officer Training School	Community
Coalition On Temporary Shelter	Community
College of The Sciences	Educational Institute
College Officer Training School	Educational Institute
Cleaned Oiled Tested and Stenciled	General
Central Oklahoma Transit System	General
Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish	General
Commercial Of The Shelf	General
Cemetery Operatives Training Scheme	General
Commerical Off The Shelf	General
Car Of The Show	General
Commercial Off The Self	General
Component Of The Shelf	General
Cash On The Spot	General
Call Of The Simpsons	General
Components Off The Shelf	General
Commodity Off The Shelf	General
Crude Oil Transportation System	Governmental
Council On Thai Studies	Governmental
Consistent Operational Travel Standards	Governmental
Commercial Off-The-Shelf	Information Technology
Central Ohio Trauma System, Columbus, Ohio	Medical
Central Ohio Trauma System	Medical
Cargo Offload and Transfer System	Military and Defence
Container Offloading and Transfer System	Military and Defence
Connection Oriented Transport Service	Networking
Commercial Off-the-shelf Software	Softwares
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services	Space Science