Tue, Mar 18, 2008
Five Companies Will Evaluate Design Concept
NASA's Constellation Program recently selected five
space-related companies to receive contract awards for a 210-day
study to independently evaluate NASA's in-house design concept for
a lunar lander, that the agency expects will deliver four
astronauts to the surface of the moon by 2020.
The awards total approximately $1.5 million, with a maximum
individual award of $350,000. The study recommendations will be
used to increase the technical maturity of the existing design in
preparation for the development of vehicle requirements.
The Constellation Program is building NASA's new fleet of
spacecraft -- including the Ares I and Ares V rockets, the Orion
crew capsule and the Altair lunar lander -- to send humans beyond
low Earth orbit and back to the moon. NASA plans to establish a
human outpost on the moon through a successive series of lunar
missions.
"These studies will provide valuable input for developing a
sound set of requirements for the Altair lunar lander," said Jeff
Hanley, the Constellation Program manager at NASA's Johnson Space
Center in Houston. "Industry collaboration will provide insight for
our planning and early design efforts for the spacecraft."
The selected companies are Andrews Space of Seattle, The Boeing
Co. of Houston, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company of Denver,
Northrop Grumman Corporation of El Segundo, CA, and Odyssey Space
Research of Houston.
The companies will evaluate the current in-house design, propose
safety improvements and recommend industry-government partnering
arrangements.
The Constellation Program is based at Johnson and manages the
Altair Project for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate,
Washington.
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