Thursday, September 16, 2010

NASA selects companies to launch unmanned science missions

Four American space launch companies will have a chance to bid on up to 70 NASA missions worth up to $15 billion over the next 10 years, NASA officials said today.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. of Denver; Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., Space Exploration Technologies, also known as SpaceX, of Hawthorne, Cal.; and United Launch Services of Littleton, Colo., were selected to provide launch services for a NASA planetary exploration, Earth-observation and scientific satellites.

"We're excited about it," said George Diller, a Kennedy Space Center spokesman. "It broadens the scope of launch vehicles that NASA can select from and gives us a better competitive opportunity with more potential launch services providers to get the best price on a launch."

Under the NASA Launch Services Contract II, NASA will choose from the following vehicles: Lockheed's Athena I and Athena II, Orbital's Pegasus XL and Taurus XL, SpaceX's Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, and United Launch Alliance's Atlas V. ULA's Delta IV is not included.

The Athena and Falcon vehicles were not part of NASA's stable of launch providers under Launch Services Contract I.

The contract makes the companies eligible to bid on missions managed by NASA's KSC-based Launch Services Program.

The missions include NASA science payloads and spacecraft operated by other government agencies, like National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather satellites.

IMAGE: On Feb. 11, 2010, United Launch Alliance successfully launched NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41. Credit: ULA.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although it slays me that we have no plans to send humans beyond low-Earth orbit, wouldn't it be great to see U.S. Astronauts once again ride Atlas rockets into space? Reminds me of the good old days.

Anonymous said...

It looks like we will use the ULA Delta to launch people into space, the Atlas uses a Russian engine and so violates parts of the effort to use Made In America parts... The Atlas will still be used to launch DoD payloads, commercial, etc. The Delta has the heritage of the old Thor/Able and an engine based on the SSME. It is a nit, but the Delta has never before been used to launch people. Of course the SSME has a lot of experience behind it.
CharlesHouston