17.11.2021
Orion spacecraft production continues for Artemis 2 and 3
The arrival of the second Orion European Service Module (ESM) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in October signified the beginning of months of final assembly of the first crewed Orion spacecraft that will fly four people on the Artemis 2 mission. Following the delivery of the ESM from prime contractor Airbus Defence and Space to Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin, the two primary elements of the Artemis 2 Orion Service Module are now being bolted together.
Lockheed Martin is processing Orion flight hardware for Artemis 2 and Artemis 3 as a part of their Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO) in the Armstrong Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building at KSC. As they process the Artemis 2 Orion Crew and Service Modules to be mated next year, the ATLO team also received the next Crew Module (CM) pressure vessel and is also simultaneously beginning build-up of the Crew Module and Crew Module Adapter (CMA) structures for Artemis 3.
Standalone buildup of Artemis 2 modules
Following completion of production at their assembly, integration, and testing (AIT) facility in Bremen, Germany, Airbus delivered ESM Flight Model-2 (FM-2) to KSC in mid-October. Alternately referred to as ESM-2, after the module was received in the O&C Building, it was tested following its overseas air transportation to make sure it was ready to be mated with the Crew Module Adapter (CMA) for Artemis 2.
“We perform something called the TIC, which is the Transportation and Integrity Check,” Laura Poliah, Orion Lead Test Engineer for NASA, said in November 5 interviews on the floor of the O&C Building. “After having traveled all this distance, we check to make sure [that] nothing has changed significantly after that transport and everything is good to go before you put in the CMA.”
“We did things like, we checked the pressures of all the tanks, we checked to make sure the valves were all in the correct states that they were supposed to be in for systems like the prop system, and we checked to make sure, from an electrical perspective, that all the harnessing that is going to be connecting up to the CMA has the right resistance and continuity associated with that.”
“So we check all those things individually to make sure that when you do that connection there’s not going to be, like, say, electrically a transient spike that harms the CMA from that perspective.”
Credit: Philip Sloss for NSF.
(Photo Caption: The Crew Module Adapter and European Service Module for Artemis 2 are seen on November 5 in the lift station of the Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at KSC. The two elements are being integrated structurally and functionally into the spacecraft’s Service Module.)
“We do all of that beforehand, and once we completed that then we gave the go-ahead to then go mate the CMA,” she added. At the time of the interviews on November 5, the CMA and the ESM had been positioned in the lift station in the O&C, and bolting of the elements was underway.
“Right now, we’re doing structural/physical mate, so that’s bolting all the longeron bolts [around the perimeter],” Amanda Stevenson, NASA’s Assembly Operations Lead for the Artemis 2 Crew Module Adapter, said. “Also the bulkhead bolts between the CMA and ESM.”
“There are 192 bolts that have to be installed, and so I believe the bolts are loosely fit in [initially], 120 of them, and they’re just now starting to tighten them and torque them down,” Amy Marasia, NASA’s Branch Manager for Orion Production Operations and Spacecraft Assembly, also noted.
The CMA and ESM are the two major elements of the Orion Service Module; after they are permanently bolted together, the newly integrated Service Module will be moved from the lift station to the O&C cleanroom.
“That is its next stop,” Marasia said. “After the structural mate, it comes into the cleanroom where we then do the welding [of fluid lines between the CMA and ESM].”
“Some of them are mechanical fittings, but we basically install the tubing that goes between the CMA propulsion systems and the ESM and also the environmental control and life support systems, [such as] oxygen, nitrogen, water. So all the commodities. We basically have to put jumper tubes and install those.”
During the event, the cleanroom was also occupied by the Artemis 2 Crew Module, which was down to final standalone welds. “We’ve got three more welds that need to be done in the cleanroom, so it’s going to come out next week, out of the cleanroom, and it will return to the CM station,” Marasia said.
“I think it’s about two, two and half months of installing all the electrical harnesses, outside and inside, installing all the avionics boxes [such as] computers, power data units — everything that goes with command and data handling, the guidance, navigation, and control. All of that electronic [installation and outfitting] work is going to happen in the next two months.”
At earlier points in time, NASA had planned to reuse all the Crew Module avionics equipment in the Artemis 1 spacecraft for Artemis 2. Prior to 2019, the missions were called Exploration Mission-1 and Exploration Mission-2 and were the only ones fully baselined as a part of the initial operating capability within the Exploration Systems Development (ESD) division.
For a long time, as many as three years or more were forecast between the missions now referred to as Artemis 1 and Artemis 2; however, a significant revision in the ESD manifest in 2018 allowed the missions to be flown closer together. The change also put Artemis 1 on the critical path for Artemis 2, and the Orion Program advanced procurement of a second set of Crew Module avionics later in 2018 so that assembly of the Artemis 2 spacecraft would not be significantly held up by Artemis 1.
The full avionics set is conceptually divided into “core” and “non-core” groups; Orion first decided to move up procurement of the core avionics, and those computers and devices are at KSC ready for installation into the Crew Module. “The decision was made to accelerate the core set that was going to be built for Artemis 3, so that core set was built earlier and it’s going to be installed on Artemis 2,” Marasia said.
Meanwhile, the projected time frame for Artemis 1 continued to move from 2020 to now early 2022, and procurement of the non-core avionics was also started. Early in 2021, NASA was still trading options back and forth between reusing the Artemis 1 non-core avionics or a new set; however, Marasia said that the agency has since decided to wait for the non-core avionics flying on the Artemis 1 spacecraft.
Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.
(Photo Caption: The Artemis 2 Crew Module is seen in the cleanroom in the O&C Building on November 5, where the last set of welds were being completed. The module was scheduled to exit the cleanroom following the welds in preparation for electrical and computer installations and initial power-up in 2022.)
“We do still have a set of the non-core avionics — basically antennas, receivers, inertial measurement units — those are still going to be reused from Artemis 1,” Marasia said. “We are dependent now on Artemis 1.”
“I wasn’t involved in those trades, [but] I think [between], schedule, funding, technical risk, I’m sure all of that risk was [considered],” she added. The decision to use the non-core avionics that will fly on Artemis 1 as a part of the Artemis 2 flight configuration means completion of the Artemis 1 mission remains a critical path for Artemis 2.
Currently, Artemis 1 is projected to launch no earlier than mid-February; launch during the February period would result in a nominal-mission splashdown in late March. On that projected schedule the earliest availability of the Artemis 1 equipment would be in the April time frame, which would be about the time when the Artemis 2 Crew Module is scheduled to begin its initial 10-12 week power up and functional checkouts with the core set of avionics.
Meanwhile, the newly-mated Service Module for Artemis 2 will move into the cleanroom in mid-November for welding of its fluid connections. Following that, it will be moved into a proof test cell for leak checks on the now-integrated Service Module fluid systems.
“We have the propulsion system and the environmental control system. Those are our two main systems that we want to make sure [are] in healthy shape, and so we’re going to be taking that to the max design pressure times 1.5 for a factor of safety,” Poliah said. “We’re ensuring the workmanship on both the CMA and the ESM are healthy, and then we put in a gas to check for leaks.”
Credits: NASA/Radislav Sinyak.
(Photo Caption: Images of ESM Flight Model 1 (left) and Flight Model 2 (right) taken three years apart at the Airbus assembly, integration, and testing (AIT) facility in Bremen, Germany, show a few of the differences between the units. Compared to the one seen in the first flight model on the left, a full complement of four life support, composite-over-wrapped pressure vessel (COPV) tanks can be seen mounted in pairs to the outside edge of the right-hand second flight model that was recently shipped to Florida for Artemis 2. Those tanks will hold gaseous nitrogen and oxygen to support the cabin atmosphere. The forward domes of the four, metallic propellant tanks can be seen poking up in the middle of the ESM, with one of the helium COPV tanks in the center between them.)
“We’re checking for leaks in the tubing and in the welding and the service valves, and we’re ensuring that nothing in the system has any defects from that perspective,” Poliah added. “I think it’s planned for the December time-frame to get into there, and the first set will be the propulsion [systems] and then we’ll do the environment control [systems].”
From the proof pressure test area, Marasia noted, “[the Service Module] goes into basically the area just to the left of the CM station. It looks empty but there will be stations, scaffolding, and work platforms brought around it, and then it will get the electrical work on it between the CMA and the ESM. So first we do the fluids work, proof pressure test, and then we go and do the electrical mates between the CMA and the ESM.”
Marasia also noted some differences in the Service Module integration and test flow that is beginning now that ESM-2 has arrived in Florida. “It’s got a few differences,” she said. “Previously, we did some tests before [ESM-CMA] mate, and so now pretty much the majority of the testing of the Service Module is after mate.”
“[Another difference is with] the spacecraft adapter cone. The spacecraft adapter cone wasn’t final installed until after we mated the CM to the SM for Artemis 1; this time, it’s going to be final installed on just the SM module [before it is mated to the CM].”
“It was different for Artemis 1 because we had to take it up to Plum Brook, and you didn’t have the SA cone on for Plum Brook. And then you had to bring it back,” she added. The Artemis 1 spacecraft is the first with a fully functioning Service Module, and in late 2019 it was transported to Plum Brook Station in Ohio for a few months thermal vacuum (T-Vac) and other testing as a part of the overall development certification for Orion.
Crew and Service Module (CSM) mate projected for mid-2022, handover to EGS in mid-2023
The work by Lockheed Martin on the Crew Module and Service Module over the next few months will be preparing them for their initial power-up. “Actually, they’re both kind of lining up to be in April of next year,” Marasia said. “So right now, per the schedules, [the Crew Module power-up] is about a week before the Service Module.”
Electrical ground support equipment (EGSE) will be used to power up the Orion electronics that command and control spacecraft functionality. “We’re essentially making sure that the avionics associated with that functionally start up correctly,” Poliah said.
“So is it doing what it was supposed to be doing? And then we’ll be running a set of performance testing to say ‘is it performing the way it’s supposed to be performing?’ An analogy is ‘did the lights turn on when you flipped the switch?’ And then the performance is more of ‘is it as bright as it was supposed to be?’ when you flipped that switch.”
With the Artemis 2 Orion being the first full-up crewed configuration, Lockheed Martin will be functionally checking out the new systems in the Crew Module for the flight crew in addition to all the rest of the spacecraft systems. The core set of CM avionics will allow most of the functional checkouts to be completed, but eventually, the non-core set will be needed from the Artemis 1 vehicle.
“We have our big block of testing after our initial power-on that’s probably on the order of 10 to 12 weeks, and then when the non-core avionics come back, I think we have about another three to four weeks of testing that are planned,” Marasia said. “All this is planned into the schedule to take place to test those components out after they’re installed.”
“We have to wait until the [Artemis 1] Crew Module returns to here to Kennedy, but one of the very first things in the post-landing processing flow is to get those [non-core] avionics off. Some of the backshell panels have to come off to get some of the components; not the ones interior, but some of the antennas on the exterior.”
The Crew Module will also be integrated with its heatshield as a part of its final standalone assembly. Installation of all 186 blocks of Avcoat material to the heatshield was completed last year, and the heatshield assembly has since gone through thermal testing and application of sealant in the seams between all the blocks.
Credit: Philip Sloss for NSF.
(Photo Caption: The heatshield for the Artemis 2 Crew Module is seen in the O&C Building at KSC on November 5. Following additional inspections, painting, and taping, the heatshield will be fitted to the aft end of the Crew Module next year.)
“All the blocks are bonded and all the seams between the blocks are filled,” Marasia said. “[The sealant material is] an RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanizer) and phenolic material, so all the seams are sealed.”
“We’ve also gone through a thermal load test. So it went into the thermal chamber at ambient pressure and it was taken to a high temperature and a low temperature, and of course, it had a bunch of instrumentation on it, and actually, it came through really well. So it finished that testing, so now we basically have to scan all the blocks again after that thermal load testing.”
Marasia noted that those non-destructive evaluation (NDE) scans are currently in work. “Right now it’s undergoing ultrasonic testing scans of each of the blocks to make sure that the bondline is still good,” she said.
After functional testing, the Crew and Service Modules will go through some of the same standalone tests as the Artemis 1’s did before being mated. “Each module separately, CM and SM, will get a thermal cycle test,” Marasia said. “They’ll also get the direct field acoustic test (DFAT).”
If the Artemis 1 mission permits, following the electrical and computer/avionics installations, functional checkouts, and standalone testing, the Artemis 2 Crew and Service Modules (CSM) would be brought over to the Final Assembly System Test (FAST) cell in the O&C and mated in the middle of next year. “I looked at the schedule this morning, and I think it is in the summer of 2022 is when they both should be ready, like early to mid-summer when they will be mated,” she said. “I think this flow is about a 10-month flow for the SM.”
Following the CSM mate, the first crew-ready Orion will go through several months of integrated testing in the O&C Building. For Artemis 2 and beyond, instead of the thermal vacuum (T-Vac) testing at Plum Brook, the Orion spacecraft will get thermal cycle and vacuum testing at separate times in separate test cells in the O&C.
Credit: NASA/Radislav Sinyak.
(Photo Caption: The Artemis 2 Crew Module Adapter is lifted on October 19 into the workstation for mating to ESM-2, which can be seen on the left edge of the image. Lockheed Martin and NASA have improved access paths into the CMA following an issue with a Power and Data Unit on the Artemis 1 CMA at a point in processing where the PDU was no longer accessible without disassembling the Crew and Service Modules. In the future, the PDUs could be reached for maintenance by removing the outboard walls of the CMA, which were not installed in this image.)
“We have our thermal chamber, [and] we’ll test very extreme cold and hot cycles simulating seeing the Sun versus being in the dark when it’s in space,” Poliah said. “We’ll also be testing [in] the [vacuum] chamber, which we’ve been working pretty hard to renovate.”
“Those [chambers] haven’t been used since the Apollo days, and [after the renovation] we’re going to be using that to do vacuum testing.”
Current schedule projections show that Lockheed Martin will finish Orion integration for Artemis 2 and be ready to hand the spacecraft over to Exploration Ground Systems in the second half of 2023. “It’s about mid-summer of 2023 based on, again, we’re dependent on the Artemis 1 launch, so that’s where it’s falling out right now,” Marasia said.
It was about that time in the Artemis 1 flow when an issue came up with one of the two Power and Data Units (PDU) in the Crew Module Adapter. The PDU was inaccessible on the Artemis 1 spacecraft in the fully-assembled configuration, and NASA decided to fly with the issue as-is.
“The PDUs sit on the outer flange of the outer wall of the CMA, and they actually lean forward because there’s a cold plate behind them, so it’s just an accessibility issue, especially in the configuration that we were in [with the Artemis 1 spacecraft],” Stevenson explained.
“We were stacked and had the Crew Module on top, so we were in the CSM configuration. Looking at our configuration for Artemis 2, we don’t have the CM on top of it, so we would have accessibility if something had happened in this configuration. But because we had the Crew Module on, we lost access to the inner wall of the CMA, and that’s what made it more challenging.”
The donut-shaped CMA has an inner ring wall with longerons encircling it. There are face-sheet-like walls or panels on the forward and aft faces (or the top and bottom) and then also on the outside edge.
“We have the aft walls and the forward walls, and then we have the outboard walls. But even then we couldn’t access that,” Stevenson said. “We would have to take the outboard walls off, but the fact was we couldn’t get to the inner wall. It was still out of reach because you have the CM on top of the CMA and there was no way to get into the bolt that was inside already.”
Going forward, NASA and Lockheed Martin made changes to the design. “We can easily access the PDUs now, and so we did redesign for that anomaly,” Stevenson said. “So we’re definitely implementing lessons learned as we go and documenting that with every iteration that we do.”
“They did some design changes and came up with a solution for Artemis 2 [and beyond] so that in the event we have to take the PDUs out, we can do it [via] the outer wall. We don’t have to unscrew or unbolt anything from the inner wall of the CMA, everything is accessible from the outer wall now.”
“There’s no changes to the PDU, and there’s no changes to the inner wall of the CMA, either,” she added.
The timing of the Artemis 1 launch and mission will directly affect the Artemis 2 Orion’s schedule; if that permits, and Lockheed Martin was to reach the mid-summer 2023 date for handover to EGS, that would support launch readiness for Artemis 2 sometime between the very end of 2023 and the updated agency baseline commitment of no later than May 2024 that was publicly announced by the space agency on November 9.
Credit: NASA/Radislav Sinyak.
(Photo Caption: The Spacecraft Adapter (SA) cone is seen installed with the Artemis 1 Service Module in May 2019 during functional testing and checkout. The SA cone was connected and disconnected multiple times during the Artemis 1 processing flow; for Artemis 2, the adapter will only have to be installed once.)
The initial operating capability for Orion in its post-Constellation “Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle” (MPCV) configuration would be with the Artemis 2 launch following Artemis 1 and the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission prior. In September 2015, following the EFT-1 mission, the Orion Program had set the baseline commitment time frame for what is now Artemis 2 (then Exploration Mission-2) as no later than April 2023.
With significant changes to both the cost and schedule baselines previously established at that Key Decision Point-C (KDP-C) review in 2015, the new, no later than May 2024 time frame for the agency’s baseline commitment is NASA’s revised estimation of when the Orion Program will be ready to fly Artemis 2.
Artemis 3 structural hardware assembly
As the long final assembly sequence begins for Artemis 2, NASA and Lockheed Martin are also beginning structural assembly of the Crew Module and Crew Module Adapter for Artemis 3. The pressure vessel for the Artemis 3 Crew Module arrived at KSC in October from the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans a few days after ESM-2 arrived from Bremen.
The central part of the Crew Module has since been installed in the “birdcage” tooling that will facilitate the installation of primary and secondary structural elements, which are also on-hand at KSC. “This is the first big piece, but obviously all the primary structures, so gussets, longerons, [and] things like that [are here],” Marasia said.
“All of that has been [delivered by] suppliers across the country and all of that stuff needed to be here before the pressure vessel so that we can start work on it right away, which we have.” The gussets and longerons and other elements will be installed on the pressure vessel while it is in the birdcage tool.
“It’s about three months to get the necessary primary structure and secondary structure that’s needed for that proof pressure test configuration,” Marasia noted. “That test configuration has to have certain components on it, so it’s about three months to get all those components on it. And then really after the first of the year is when it’s planned to go into that pressure test.”
Credit: Philip Sloss for NSF.
(Photo Caption: The pressure vessel at the center of the Artemis 3 Crew Module is seen in its “birdcage” structural assembly tool in the O&C Building on November 5. Much work is involved in evolving the passive pressure vessel structure into an active spacecraft machine. The remainder of the primary structure and some secondary structural elements will be installed while in the birdcage tool, after which the structure will be moved into the proof test cell in the O&C for the proof pressure test sometime early in 2022.)
Marasia also noted that the structural build of the Artemis 3 CMA is also in progress. “It’s already in work as well,” she said. “We have the inner wall barrel [set up], and they’re already installing frames and longerons onto it.”
The Orion Program and Lockheed Martin are working to ramp up to the production rate goal of an annual spacecraft delivery for launch, which will see at least three spacecraft in process simultaneously. “It’s going to be even busier than this eventually,” Marasia said.
“Once we get past these first few and get into really the production cycle, we will have a mated CSM down at the end, and we will have another two sets, two Crew Modules and two Service Modules in flow.”
Quelle: NS
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NASA to Roll Out Mega Moon Rocket for First Time, Media Invited
Media registration is now open to capture imagery and video as NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft roll out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida this winter for the first time. SLS and Orion will journey to Launch Pad 39B atop the crawler transporter-2 for a test in preparation for the agency’s Artemis I mission.
The exact date for the move is currently under review. Additional information on timing, as well as interview opportunities and NASA coverage for the final prelaunch test, known as a wet dress rehearsal, will be provided later. No onsite media support is planned during the test itself at this time.
During the rollout, media will have the opportunity to follow the journey from the iconic VAB to the pad from multiple locations. Experts from NASA and its partners will be available to answer questions during the beginning and end of rollout operations.
During the test, planned approximately a week after arriving at the pad, teams from Kennedy’s Exploration Ground Systems, as well as the primary contractor, Jacobs, will load the rocket with more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic, or supercold, propellants and the team will run through the launch countdown sequence, ending prior to engine ignition. Engineers also will demonstrate procedures to drain the propellants from the rocket. After the test, the rocket and spacecraft will return to the VAB for final checkouts before launch.
Accreditation for this activity is open to U.S. and international media. International media must apply by Sunday, Nov. 28. U.S. media must apply by Wednesday, Dec. 8.
All media accreditation requests must be submitted online at:
NASA’s COVID-19 policies are updated as necessary and to remain consistent with guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and White House Safer Federal Workforce Taskforce. COVID-19 safety protocols for this event will be communicated closer to the date of the event. The agency also will communicate any updates that may impact mission planning or media access as necessary.
For questions about accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.
For other questions, please contact Kennedy’s newsroom at: 321-867-2468.
Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo 321-501-8425.
The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. With Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, and establish a long-term presence in preparation for missions to Mars.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 5.12.2021
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Northrop Grumman wins NASA contract for SLS booster production
WASHINGTON — NASA awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman Dec. 2 for the production of several pairs of Space Launch System solid rocket boosters as well as development of a new version of the booster.
The Booster Production and Operations Contract (BPOC), with a maximum value of $3.19 billion, covers production of the five-segment boosters that will be used on the Artemis 4 through Artemis 8 missions. It also includes funding for development of a new version of the boosters, called Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE), including production of the first pair for the Artemis 9 mission.
The boosters for Artemis 4 through 8 “will carry us through the expenditure of the heritage shuttle hardware,” namely the steel cases used to house the booster segments, said Mark Tobias, SLS Deputy and BOLE Chief Engineer and Northrop Grumman Fellow, in a Dec. 3 interview.
Those boosters will be identical to those the company has built for the first three SLS launches. Besides the boosters that will help launch Artemis 1 in early 2022, the booster segments for Artemis 2 are complete and the motors for Artemis 3 cast. Tobias said he expected a “significant reduction” in the number of people needed to build the later boosters as the company shifts workers to the BOLE project, but did not give a specific number.
The BOLE boosters will replace the steel cases used now with stronger but lighter composite cases, among other changes. “The BOLE booster in general leverage significant investment the commercial side of our house has made,” he said.
Other changes include using an electronic thrust vector control system rather than one powered by hydrazine and use of a common propellant formulation. The changes are intended to both increase performance and reduce cost and complexity: eliminating hydrazine in the thrust vector control system, he said, reduces the amount of labor involved and improves safety in the process.
Development and qualification of the BOLE boosters will include five major static-fire tests, he said, the first of which is scheduled for the spring of 2024.
The BOLE boosters should improve the performance of SLS, in terms of payload placed into a translunar injection trajectory, by at least three metric tons. “It’s likely to do better on a nominal basis,” Tobias said. “The three metric tons is a worst-case prediction. On a nominal basis it could be more like five.”
The company has a long-term goal of reducing the cost of the booster by 25% to 50%. “We’ve attempted to incorporate as many cost savings as we can into the booster,” he said. “The BPOC contract represents the first significant step in achieving those cost reduction targets, and NASA has follow-on activities that they’re pursuing that will take us the rest of the way.”
NASA issued a request for information (RFI) Oct. 26 for a proposed initiative called Exploration Production and Operations Long-Term Sustainability. That would consolidate SLS production and operations into a single contract, called the Exploration Production and Operations Contract (EPOC), with NASA purchasing SLS launches as a service at a rate one crewed flight a year and possibly one or more cargo flights a year. NASA seeks “a substantial savings of 50% or more off of the current industry baseline per flight cost” under EPOC.
“We’re working to get our current multiple contracts into a single production and operations contract,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for space operations, at a Nov. 9 media teleconference about updates to the Artemis program. That could enable others to purchase SLS launches “and have it be a shared investment and resource from a government perspective.”
The RFI does not state what that “current industry baseline” cost of SLS per flight is. “I think we’d be really happy at some stage if we could get our launch and processing costs to between $1 billion and $1.5 billion, but we’ve got a little ways to go,” Lueders said.
The EPOC proposal is “very synergistic” with the work Northrop will be doing on its new BPOC contract, Tobias said. “Many of the changes that were put in place in the BPOC contract mesh and are highly portable with what NASA has defined in the RFI,” he said.
“We’re doing this as we march toward a really significant evolution of how NASA does business in the space arena, by moving to more commercial practices, more commercial standards and commercial technologies,” he said. “We’re on a very good path to support lunar exploration and ultimately Mars exploration.”
Quelle: SN