Feb. 14, 2013
Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov
Kim Henry
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
kimberly.m.henry@nasa.gov
CONTRACT RELEASE: 13-054
NASA AWARDS FINAL SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM ADVANCED BOOSTER CONTRACT
WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif., for a
$23.3 million contract to develop engineering demonstrations and risk
reduction concepts for future advanced boosters for the agency's
Space Launch System (SLS).
Aerojet is one of four companies contracted under a NASA Research
Announcement (NRA) to improve the affordability, reliability and
performance of an advanced booster for a future version of the SLS
heavy-lift rocket.
The SLS vehicle will take the agency's Orion spacecraft and other
payloads farther than ever before. The initial 70-metric-ton (77-ton)
configuration will use two five-segment solid rocket boosters similar
to the boosters that helped power the space shuttle to orbit. An
evolved 130-metric-ton (143-ton) rocket will require an advanced
booster with more thrust than any existing U.S. liquid- or
solid-fueled boosters.
Aerojet will work to reduce the risk and improve technical maturation
of a liquid oxygen and kerosene oxidizer-rich staged-combustion
engine. The company will fabricate a representative full-scale
550,000-pound thrust class main injector and thrust chamber, and
prepare to conduct a number of tests measuring performance and
demonstrating combustion stability.
In addition to Aerojet, three other companies are under contract to
develop SLS advanced booster contracts including ATK Launch Systems
Inc. of Brigham City, Utah; Dynetics Inc. of Huntsville, Ala.; and
Northrop Grumman Corporation Aerospace Systems of Redondo Beach,
Calif. These new initiatives will perform and examine advanced
booster concepts and hardware demonstrations during an approximate
30-month period.
While commercial partners seek to fly astronauts and payloads to the
International Space Station, NASA's SLS, with an uncrewed Orion
spacecraft, will begin the first step towards deep space on a flight
test in 2017.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the
SLS Program for the agency. NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center in
Houston manages Orion. SLS will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space
Center in Florida.
For information about NASA's Space Launch System, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/sls
-end-
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