[meteorite-list] Companies Selected to Provide Early Design Work for Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission Spacecraft

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4833

Companies Selected to Provide Early Design Work for Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission Spacecraft
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
January 27, 2016

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., has selected four 
companies to conduct design studies for a solar-electric-propulsion-based 
spacecraft for the agency's Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM). 
The aerospace companies selected for the initial studies include: Lockheed 
Martin Space Systems, Littleton, Colorado; Boeing Phantom Works, Huntington 
Beach, California; Orbital ATK, Dulles, Virginia; and Space Systems/Loral, 
Palo Alto, California.

ARRM is part of NASA's plan for using cislunar space, the region between 
Earth and moon's orbit, as a proving ground for future human spaceflight 
beyond low-Earth orbit, in support of the agency's journey to Mars.

The acquisition strategy for the ARRM spacecraft will leverage commercially 
available U.S. industry capabilities to reduce costs and cost risk. The 
strategy includes procurement of the ARRM spacecraft bus through two phases. 
The first phase is design work accomplished through studies by U.S. industry 
working in cooperation with the mission's project office at JPL to support 
mission formulation. The second phase, to be awarded via a second competition, 
will include development and implementation of the flight spacecraft bus 
by one of the study participants.

ARRM is being planned to perform a number of demonstrations including 
the use of a 20-fold improvement in deep space solar-electric propulsion 
(SEP) to move and maneuver large payloads; retrieve a boulder up to 20 
tons in mass from an asteroid and redirect it to a crew-accessible orbit 
around the moon; and be a part of integrated crewed and robotic vehicle 
operations in deep space.


Media Contact

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
818-393-9011
agle at jpl.nasa.gov 

2016-026