Oct 19 2010
NASA has offered Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data (ILDD) contracts worth $30.1 million to six companies for procuring technical information for enhancing the efficiency of robotic vehicles and conducting uninterrupted future robotic landing missions to the moon. The outcomes of these agreements will help in the building of upcoming human and robotic landing vehicles as well as future investigation systems.
The ILDD Broad Agency declaration has paved way for several award firm-fixed price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity five-year agreements. It was reported that for every chosen contractor, the minimum and maximum procurement amount is $10,000 and $10.01 million respectively. The contractors include Astrobotic Technology Inc, Dynetics Inc, Moon Express Inc, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Earthrise Space Inc and Team FREDNET.
The ILDD contracts help in issuing dispatch orders which will identify major information related to system investigation, incorporation, in-space operations, lunar landing, braking burns and other improved efficiencies followed by building robotic landing systems required for achieving lunar missions and other future space explorations, thereby supporting NASA’s initiatives to provide cost-effective and reliable space missions.
The Lunar Lander Project Office located at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston will supervise these newly issued contracts.
Source: http://www.nasa.gov