NASA awards $137.3 million in Space Launch System contracts
An artist's rendering of what the Space Launch System will look like. NASA
ATK Launch Systems, Northrop Grumman and Dynetics nab the deals.
NASA awarded three contracts totaling $137.3 million to upgrade an advanced booster for the space launch system, a heavy-lift rocket for exploration beyond low Earth orbit, the agency announced.
ATK Launch Systems will develop improvements for a solid-fueled booster. Dynetics was selected to produce and test several primary components of the F-1 rocket engine that had been developed for the Apollo Program. Northrop Grumman Corporation Aerospace Systems will develop low-cost manufacturing techniques for composite propellant tanks.
Additional contracts are being negotiated, NASA indicated. The first flight test is scheduled for 2017.
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