NASA Hands Stage II Delight to Boeing

Aviation giant Boeing Co. announced Tuesday it had won a NASA contract to construct one stage of the Ares I rocket. Specifically, it will be responsible for the design and construction of the propulsion system, which constitutes Stage II of Ares I. NASA made a similar announcement Tuesday as well.

The deal, worth $514.7 million, means Alliant Techsystems Inc. the technology company based out of Edina that had won the contract for the design and construction of the solid rocket boosters or Stage I of Ares, would play no part in the design and construction of the second stage.

Alliant had teamed up with Lockheed Martin and Pratt and also Whitney Rocketdyne to make the its bid for the second stage design and construction. It had won the $1.8 billion contract guaranteeing its involvement in the Stage I construction two weeks back.

The announcement by NASA about Boeing ended suspense that had been building up over months regarding the stage II construction. Boeing’s contract runs through 2016. Officials at Alliant were understandably disappointed with NASA’s announcement, especially after putting in the hard work for the past few months in shaping their bid.

The mood in the Boeing camp, on the other hand was upbeat, with Vice President of Space Exploration in the company declaring they were honored to be part of the Constellation team and partner NASA in the Stage II design and construction.

The Ares I is a two-stage craft and is to be used to launch astronauts to the International Space Station and later on send humans to the moon as well. It will take the manned vehicle Orion into low Earth orbit. Orion is slated to be NASA’s manned vehicle in the future.

The Stage I solid booster rockets being developed by Alliant would use solid fuel, while the Stage II propulsion system would use liquid hydrogen and oxygen. Both the systems would be placed seamlessly under the crew capsule.

The Stage I boosters would propel the craft about 314,000 feet into orbit, after which they would fall back to the earth and be taken back for further use. The Stage II propulsion system would then take over, helping the craft reach its orbit. After that, it would also separate from the craft.

Scientists at NASA claim the new design would solve the debris problems the agency was facing during vehicle lift-off. Debris was the cause for the disintegration on re-entry of Columbia on February 1, 2003. It has also been a problem in recent times, though not as lethal as in the case of Columbia.