NASA has awarded a
contract to Oceaneering International Inc. of Houston, for the design,
development and production of a new spacesuit system. The spacesuit will
protect astronauts during Constellation Program voyages to the
International Space Station and, by 2020, the surface of the moon.
The subcontractors to Oceaneering are Air-Lock Inc. of Milford, Conn.,
David Clark Co. of Worcester, Mass., Cimarron Software Services Inc. of
Houston, Harris Corporation of Palm Bay, Fla., Honeywell International Inc.
of Glendale, Ariz., Paragon Space Development Corp. of Tucson, Ariz., and
United Space Alliance of Houston.
"The award of the spacesuit contract completes the spaceflight hardware
requirements for the Constellation Program's first human flight in 2015,"
said Jeff Hanley, Constellation program manager at NASA's Johnson Space
Center in Houston. Contracts for the Orion crew capsule and the Ares I
rocket were awarded during the past two years.
The cost-plus-award-fee spacesuit contract includes a basic performance
period from June 2008 to September 2014 that has a value of $183.8 million.
During the performance period, Oceaneering and its subcontractors will
conduct design, development, test, and evaluation work culminating in the
manufacture, assembly, and first flight of the suit components needed for
astronauts aboard the Orion crew exploration vehicle. The basic contract
also includes initial work on the suit design needed for the lunar surface.
"I am excited about the new partnership between NASA and Oceaneering,"
said Glenn Lutz, project manager for the spacesuit system at Johnson. "Now
it is time for our spacesuit team to begin the journey together that
ultimately will put new sets of boot prints on the moon."
Suits and support systems will be needed for as many as four astronauts
on moon voyages and as many as six space station travelers. For short trips
to the moon, the suit design will support a week's worth of moon walks. The
system also must be designed to support a significant number of moon walks
during potential six-month lunar outpost expeditions. In addition, the
spacesuit and support systems will provide contingency spacewalk capability
and protection against the launch and landing environment, such as
spacecraft cabin leaks.
Two contract options may be awarded in the future as part of this
contract. Option 1 covers completion of design, development, test and
evaluation for the moon surface suit components. Option 1 would begin in
October 2010 and run through September 2018, under a cost-plus-award fee
structure with a total value of $302.1 million.
Option 2 provides for the Orion suit production, processing and
sustaining engineering under a cost-plus-award fee or a firm-fixed-price,
indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract structure with a maximum
value of $260 million depending on hardware requirements. Option 2 would
begin at the end of the basic performance period in October 2014, and would
continue through September 2018.
Source: Nasa
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