SBC focuses on contracts

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – The next general meeting of the Stennis Business Consortium is scheduled for March 31 at 1 p.m. in the auditorium of the StenniSphere, Building 1200. At the meeting there will be a special presentation on the upcoming NASA-Stennis procurement under the Multiple-Award Construction Contracts (MACCs). Under the contract, NASA selected 10 companies that would be responsible for major construction projects at SSC for a five-year period. The MACC will be eligible for re-compete in less than two years. Also at the meeting, representatives of the Marine Industries Science and Technology cluster, Naval Oceanographic Office, NASA Shared Services Center and others will speak. For information, click here. (Source: MSET, 02/25/15)

SSC won't test AJ-26 replacement

Orbital Sciences does not plan to do acceptance tests of the RD-181 engines at Stennis Space Center, Miss. That's according to a story in Aviation Week about the engines Orbital Sciences chose to replace the Russian-built NK-33 engines. Those engines, modified by Aerojet as the AJ-26, had been tested at SSC before being used to power Orbital's Antares rocket on resupply missions to the International Space Station. The switch to Russian-built RD-181s followed the October 2014 failure of an Antares launch vehicle seconds after lifting off from Wallops Island, Va. The first shipment of the engines to Orbital ATK will be this summer. (Source: Aviation Week, 02/24/15)

Rolls-Royce NA getting new leader

Marion Blakey is leaving the Aerospace Industries Association to become the CEO and president of Rolls-Royce North America, both organizations announced Tuesday. She's replacing James Guyette, who retires from Rolls-Royce May 31. Blakey, an Alabama native, has been with AIA, an industry organization, for eight years. Rolls-Royce North America has more than 8,000 workers in 26 U.S. states, six Canadian provinces and three Mexican states. Major operations are at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, Miss., where it has an outdoor engine testing facility; Indianapolis; Prince George County, Va.; Walpole, Mass.; Oakland, Calif.; and Montreal. (Sources: multiple, including Aviation Week, Rolls-Royce, Aerospace Industries Association, 02/24/15)

NASA awards yard for barge work

MORGAN CITY, La. -- Conrad Industries Inc. has received the NASA Space Flight Awareness Supplier Award based on its work with the conversion of the NASA Pegasus barge. This annual award honors outstanding performance by hardware, software, or service suppliers who support NASA human space flight programs. Awardees are chosen based on their production of high-quality products, excellent technical and cost performance, and adherence to schedules. The barge, long used to transport shuttle external tanks for the Space Shuttle program, has been lengthened from 260 to 310 feet to accommodate components for the Space Launch System program. The upgraded Pegasus is set to transport the first major SLS hardware from New Orleans to NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., for testing as early as next year. (Source: PRNewswire, 02/12/15) Previous

NASA awards contract modification

NASA has awarded Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) of McLean, Va., a modification to the NASA Integrated Communications Services (NICS) contract that provides and manages the vast majority of NASA’s information technology (IT) communications infrastructure services. This $18.6 million contract modification adds the Automated Behavioral Analysis (AuBA) project. The objective is to conduct monitoring of network traffic for analysis of cyber events. The NICS contract is a cost-plus award fee/cost-plus incentive fee contract which consists of a three-year base period, one two-year option, one three-year option and one two-year option for the NICS contract. The period of performance runs through May 31, 2021, if all options are exercised. The NICS contract is administered by the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) at Stennis Space Center, Miss. The NSSC performs selected business activities for all NASA centers. (Source: NASA/NSSC, 02/05/15)

Contract: Lockheed, $36.8M

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., has been awarded a $36,819,781 modification (P00082) to previously awarded contract FA8810-08-C-0002 for Space Based Infra-Red Systems (SBIRS) follow-on production. The contract is being modified to change the initial launch capability dates for SBIRS Geosynchronous Earth Orbit 3-4 space vehicles in order to support new launch manifest dates and also procure storage for the GEO-3 space vehicle. Work will be performed at Sunnyvale and is expected to be complete by June 30, 2018. Fiscal year 2015 missile procurement funds in the amount of $25,504,071 are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile System Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/05/15) Note: The SBIRS is an A2100 satellite-based spacecraft. Work on the A2100 core's propulsion system, which positions the spacecraft in orbit, is done at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Pegasus barge being supersized

The Pegasus barge, originally designed to transport Space Shuttle external tanks from New Orleans to Florida, is well on its way to being supersized. Its new role will be to transport the huge Space Launch System stages. The upgraded Pegasus is set to transport the first major SLS hardware from New Orleans to NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., for testing as early as next year. The barge's final role in shuttle program was when it shipped Space Shuttle Main Engine ground support equipment to Stennis from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The barge was mothballed at Stennis in 2011, and is now being modified by Conrad Shipyard LLC in Amelia, La. (Source: NASA Spaceflight.com, 02/04/15)