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NEWS
- June 2000: Andrews Space & Technology was selected by
NASA Marshall to identify market requirements in support of NASA's
Second-Generation RLV.
NASA Marshall Center
selects companies to help identify new space transportation
technologies
NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has selected nine companies
to help define how NASA can get into space more safely and for less
money than we can today using the Space Shuttle.
The companies will share in a $15 million NASA Research Announcement
effort
titled the "Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Risk
Reduction
Definition Program."
This research -- a first step in defining detailed requirements and
identifying and implementing improvements in vehicle safety -- will be
used to support a second-generation Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)
competition in 2005. The Space Shuttle is a first-generation vehicle.
"The companies selected will provide the next step in the work
required to increase safety by a factor of 100 while decreasing cost
by a factor of 10," said Dan Dumbacher, manager of the Second
Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Program Office.
"We're early in the program, and we look forward to further
industry involvement to accelerate the effort in fiscal 2001."
Companies chosen to participate in this effort are Orbital Sciences
Corporation, Dulles, Va.; The Boeing Company, Seal Beach, Calif.;
Andrews Space & Technology, El Segundo, Calif.; Lockheed Martin
Space Systems Company, Denver, Colo.; The Boeing Company's Rocketdyne
Propulsion and Power, Canoga Park, Calif.; Pratt & Whitney, West
Palm Beach, Fla.; Futron Corporation, Bethesda, Md.; Kelly Space &
Technology, San Bernardino, Calif.; and Space Access, Palmdale, Calif.
This effort will further systems requirements definition work
necessary for the Second Generation RLV program, leading to initiating
the business and technical risk-reduction activities in fiscal 2001.
These companies will be able to take advantage of work already under
way on X-33, X-34 and X-37 experimental technology demonstration
vehicles. The study will not only explore possible Earth-to-orbit
launch vehicles, but also in-space orbit transfer vehicles, ground and
flight operations and the technology and organization required to
support both.
NASA anticipates awarding more contracts this year in various
technical areas, resulting from the NASA Research Announcement.
Making access to space less expensive and safer is part of NASA's
Space Launch Initiative, designed to increase commercial development
and civil exploration of space. The Second Generation Reusable Launch
Vehicle Risk Reduction Definition Program, part of the Space Launch
Initiative, is a result of NASA's industry-led Space Transportation
Architecture Studies in 1998 and 1999, and NASA's integrated Space
Transportation Plan developed in the fall of 1999.
The Marshall Center is NASA's Lead Center for Space Transportation
Systems
Development.
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