PACTS TAKE AIM AT NEW SPACESHIP 22 FIRMS TO STUDY TECHNOLOGY FOR A REUSABLE CRAFT.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer PALMDALE - Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. , Boeing and Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is an aerospace and defense conglomerate that is the result of the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company is the third largest defense contractor for the U.S. were among the 22 contractors awarded contracts totaling $767 million to conduct studies leading to the development of a new reusable spaceship. Boeing was awarded $136 million, Lockheed Martin $94.3 million, and Northrop Grumman $86.5 million to conduct studies under NASA's Space Launch Initiative. The contracts are aimed at developing concepts and technologies leading to a spacecraft that will be safer than the space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank. and would be able to get equipment into space at one-tenth of today's costs. Among the technologies the National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space exploration, artificial satellites (see satellite, artificial), wants to develop include crew survival systems, advanced fuel tank and airframe structures, long-life rocket engines and thermal protection systems. ``The goal is to develop technologies to enable a mid-decade decision regarding the full-scale development of a versatile space transportation system that can be used for both government and commercial services,'' said Art Stephenson Art Stephenson was the ninth Director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center located in Huntsville, Alabama. He served as Director from September 11, 1998 to May 2003. Early Years , director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the original home of NASA, is a lead center for propulsion, Space Shuttle propulsion, Shuttle external fuel tank, crew training and payloads, International Space Station (ISS) design and construction, for computers, networks, and in Huntsville, Ala. Of the $136 million awarded to Boeing, the bulk, $72.6 million, will go toward studies of spaceship airframes. The rest of the funding will go toward a variety of studies, including subsystems, spaceship operations, and meeting NASA-specific payloads. Of the $94.3 million awarded to Lockheed Martin, $36 million will go toward studies of the major vehicle systems and another $25.4 million will go toward studies of subsystems. The contract award includes $20.9 million for operations studies. The contract to Northrop Grumman is split into three areas - $42.7 million for airframe studies, $36.4 million for systems that would monitor how the spacecraft is performing and help it repair itself, and $7.4 million for systems studies. Nearly 300 experts throughout NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. , with technical support from the Air Force Research Laboratory, evaluated the contract proposals. The awards are for a 10-month base period with options for one or more additional years. NASA plans to spend $4.8 billion through 2006 on the Space Launch Initiative. The space agency expects the process will lead to the selection of a contractor and a spacecraft design in five years. |
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