WASHINGTON -- NASA announced Monday the roles
its 10 regional field centers will play in the development of the Crew
Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and the related launcher the U.S. space agency hopes to have in service no later than 2014.
"This is
the first wave of center assignments for getting Constellation rolling," said
Jeff Hanley, NASA's Constellation program manager. Constellation is NASA's name
for the multibillion-dollar effort to build the CEV, launchers and landing
spacecraft needed to put U.S. astronauts on the Moon by 2020.
NASA
expects to select a prime contractor in late August or early September to
design and build the CEV with a lot of help from its field centers. Lockheed
Martin is competing against the team of Northrop Grumman and Boeing to be the
prime contractor for the project.
The agency
has also initiated a number of contracts in recent months in order to get
industry and its field centers working on the development of the Crew Launch
Vehicle, a largely expendable rocket with a main stage derived from the space
shuttle's solid rocket booster.
As
expected, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland was assigned responsibility for
developing the CEV Service Module that will accommodate the six-person
capsule's main propulsion system. Glenn was also assigned responsibility for a
CEV adapter needed to mate the spacecraft to its launcher.
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., will lead the early work on the CEV's thermal protection system, helping NASA
select the heat shields that will be used to keep the capsule from burning up
during its return trip through the Earth's atmosphere. Ames also was given new
responsibilities in meeting the information technology needs of NASA's
Constellation program.
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., has been assigned lead responsibility for flight testing the CEV's
launch abort system, a safety feature designed to separate the CEV from its
booster in the event of a launch emergency. Handley said Dryden was chosen for
its expertise in conducting flight tests.
For help in
designing the CEV launch abort system, NASA is turning to Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Specifically, Langley engineers will oversee and conduct
independent analysis of the CEV prime contractor's development of a launch
abort system.
Overall
responsibility for the CEV remains at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Marshall
Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., is leading development of the Crew
Launch Vehicle, with Stennis Space Center in Mississippi responsible for
testing engines for both the crew launcher and an unmanned heavy-lift launcher
the agency hopes to get started around the end of the decade.
Marshall has also picked up in recent weeks
responsibility for managing the agency's lunar robotics program. Scott
Horowitz, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems, said putting
Marshall in charge of the Lunar Precursor and Robotics Program will enable
greater synergy between some of NASA's early lunar robotics missions and
development of the descent stage for a lunar lander that will carry astronauts
and unmanned payloads, such as power plants, habitats and the like, to the
surface of the Moon.
Florida's Kennedy Space Center, the chosen launch site for the CEV, will host NASA's Ground Operations Project, helping
the agency plan and prepare for launching and operating the space shuttle's
successor.
Goddard
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., will help the Constellation Program by
doing communications, navigation and avionics work.
The Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, the Pasadena, Calif.-based center responsible for all of
the agency's robotic landers of late, will lend its expertise in robotic
surface operations to the NASA's human exploration efforts and help lead the
Constellation Program's systems engineering and integration software and
avionics team along with Goddard.
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