Orion Contract Awarded to Lockheed Martin

 

NASA recently selected Lockheed Martin Corp. as the prime contractor to design, develop and build Orion, America’s spacecraft for a new generation of explorers.

United Space Alliance, along with Honeywell, Hamilton Sundstrand and Orbital, teamed with Lockheed on the proposal.

Orion will be capable of transporting four crewmembers for lunar missions and later supporting crew transfers for Mars missions. Orion could also carry up to six crewmembers to and from the International Space Station.

“For USA, this is an important step in formally establishing the company’s role in the Constellation Program as the industry expert for operations,” said USA Constellation Program Manager Anne Martt. “Along with our subcontract role on the Crew Launch Vehicle (Ares I), this work positions us as the company of choice for future operations of the Constellation systems.”

USA competed on both the Lockheed Martin and the Northrop Grumman/ Boeing teams in bidding for this contract.

“Both USA proposal teams did an outstanding job and deserve our gratitude for their outstanding service and dedication,” Martt said. “They are to be congratulated for effectively positioning the company for success in the future.”

The first Orion launch with humans on board is planned for no later than 2014, and a human moon landing is planned for no later than 2020. Orion will form a key element of extending a sustained human presence beyond low-Earth orbit to advance commerce, science and national leadership.

The NASA contract with Lockheed Martin is the conclusion of a two-phase selection process. NASA began working with the two contractor teams, Northrop Grumman/Boeing and Lockheed Martin, in July 2005 to perform concept refinement, trade studies, analysis of requirements and preliminary design options. Lockheed Martin will be responsible for the Design, Development, Testing, and Evaluation (DDT&E) of the new spacecraft.

Manufacturing and integration of the vehicle components will take place at facilities across the country. Lockheed Martin will perform the majority of the Orion vehicle engineering work at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and complete final assembly of the vehicle at the Kennedy Space Center. All 10 NASA centers will provide technical and engineering support to the Orion project.

The contract is structured into separate schedules for DDT&E with options for production of additional spacecraft and sustaining engineering.

DDT&E work is estimated to occur from Sept. 8, 2006, through Sept. 7, 2013. The estimated value of the Lockheed Martin contract is $3.9 billion.

Production and sustaining engineering activities are contract options that will allow NASA to obtain additional vehicles as needed.

Post-development spacecraft delivery orders may begin as early as Sept. 8, 2009, through Sept. 7, 2019, if all options are exercised.

Sustaining engineering work is expected to occur from Sept. 8, 2009, through Sept. 7, 2019, if all options are exercised.

USA will support Lockheed Martin with operational expertise throughout the design disciplines, implementation of the CEV Avionics Integration Lab, and final assembly and integration of the vehicle.

Additional details of USA’s work on Orion will be featured in upcoming issues of the USA Update.

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