|
Andrews
Space & Technology wins NASA contract to conduct Future Space
Transportation Study
El SEGUNDO, Calif.--Aug. 9, 2000--Andrews
Space & Technology has been awarded a contract by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration to conduct a Future Space
Transportation Study that will analyze emerging space markets and
their transportation needs.
The initial four-month study by Andrews
Space & Technology supports NASA's work to define how the agency
can get into space more safely and for less money using a
second-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV) than is possible today
traveling on the Space Shuttle, a first-generation vehicle.
The study is being funded by NASA's
Research Announcement effort known as the Second Generation RLV Risk
Reduction Definition Program.
Under this same program, Andrews Space
& Technology, with headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., won another
six-month contract from Kelly Space & Technology of San
Bernardino, Calif. to perform systems engineering and detailed design
activities in support of Kelly Space's Second Generation RLV Risk
Reduction contract.
Andrews Space & Technology was
awarded both contracts, worth nearly half-a-million dollars, last
month.
"We are very excited and honored
to be working on NASA's Second-Generation RLV Program," said
company president Jason Andrews. "We believe that the study of
emerging space markets is critical to designing a RLV that is going to
operate commercially in the 2010 to 2030 time frame."
Future Space Transportation Study
overview: Andrews Space & Technology's tasks for the Future
Space Transportation Study, a multiphase effort, include: identifying
non-aerospace companies which could profit from doing business in
space; interviewing select companies to better understand how they
could do business in orbit; developing commercial business models for
their respective industry niches; and characterizing market size and
elasticity.
The study also will include deriving
market-driven, second-generation RLV system design requirements to
address potential emerging space markets. The markets to be researched
in this initial study phase are on-orbit microchip fabrication,
materials development and processing, pharmaceutical manufacturing
development, and other biomedical and clinical applications.
Future study phases will address space
tourism, orbit logistics, space traffic management, and orbital
infrastructure.
Leading the Future Space Transportation
Study is Dr. Dana Andrews, the company's Chief Technology Officer, who
joined Andrews Space & Technology last March. Dr. Andrews was
formerly with the Boeing Company for thirty four years, where he lead
major space design projects including the Boeing TSTO RLV, Future-X,
Military Space Plane, and Solar-Thermal Orbital Transfer Vehicle (SOTV)
programs.
Along with performing technical market
analysis in the study, Andrews Space & Technology will produce a
video "trailer" characterizing future commercial space
activities and conducting business in orbit.
The video trailer will be used in
conjunction with focused, industry-specific multimedia presentations
to inform the respective industries and the general public about how
NASA's goals of significantly improving safety and reducing the cost
to orbit could facilitate a space commerce, referred to by the company
as "s-commerce," revolution and benefit terrestrial business
opportunities.
Andrews Space & Technology will be
assisted with its Future Space Transportation Study by these
subcontractors: ECON Inc. of Huntington Beach, Calif.; which will
perform economic analysis and cost estimating; and Digital Empire Inc.
of Riverside, Calif., which will provide animation, visualization and
communications integration for the video trailer, multimedia
presentations and other project deliverables.
NASA's Second Generation RLV
Program: Both contracts awarded to Andrews Space & Technology
in July fall under NASA's Second-Generation RLV Risk Reduction
Definition Program, which is part of the agency's Space Launch
Initiative. The Initiative is designed to increase commercial
development and civil exploration of space by making access to space
less expensive and safer.
According to NASA program manager Dan
Dumbacher, the agency will use the research gained from its
Second-Generation RLV Risk Reduction Definition Program to support a
NASA-sponsored second-generation RLV competition in 2005.
Along with Andrews Space &
Technology and Kelly Space & Technology, other companies chosen to
share the $15 million as participants in NASA's Second Generation RLV
Risk Reduction Definition Program are: Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles,
Va.; the Boeing Co., Seal Beach, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Co., Denver, Colo.; the Boeing Co.'s Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power,
Canoga Park, Calif.; Pratt & Whitney, West Palm Beach, Fla.;
Futron Corp., Bethesda, Md.; and Space Access, Palmdale, Calif.
Overseeing the program is Marshall
Space Flight Center of Huntsville, Ala., NASA's lead center for Space
Transportation Systems Development.
The program is a result of NASA's
industry-led Space Transportation Architecture Studies (STAS), which
started in August 1998 and ended last May, and NASA's Integrated Space
Transportation Plan (ISTP) developed last fall.
Last year and earlier this year,
Andrews Space & Technology performed systems engineering and
vehicle design engineering services on behalf of Kelly Space &
Technology in support of NASA's STAS to develop space transportation
systems that will serve through the year 2030.
NASA incorporated the Team's findings
into its ISTP, which identifies and defines the agency's five-year
investment strategy that will enable a low-risk, highly competitive
selection of a new space architecture by 2005.
About the Company: In its first
year of operation, Andrews Space & Technology has been awarded six
contracts valued at nearly $1 million. In addition to performing
services for NASA and Kelly Space & Technology, the company also
successfully completed a contract for Starcraft Boosters Inc. of
Houston, Texas.
Andrews Space & Technology was
founded in July 1999 by Jason Andrews, company president, and Marian
Joh, board chairman and CEO, whose respective experience includes
hands-on involvement in developing and financing the Kistler K-1
two-stage-to-orbit and Lockheed Martin VentureStar
single-stage-to-orbit RLVs.
Andrews Space & Technology offers
enterprise and product development engineering services; conducts
research and development activities to identify and develop new
products for near-term and future space and technology applications;
as well as owns and maintains SPACEandTECH.COM, a leading provider of
on-line space industry news information.
Andrews Space & Technology is
located in El Segundo, Calif. Earlier this week the company opened a
branch office in Seattle, Wash.
--#-- Contacts:
Andrews Space & Technology
Jason Andrews, 310/725-9640 (President)
Chris Hoeft, 206/342-9934 (Public Relations)
Web site: spaceandtech.com
email: info@spaceandtech.com
or
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Media Relations Office, Second
Generation RLV Program Office
David Drachlis, 256/544-6538
|
