More on the Allient Award
NASA has awarded defense contractor Alliant Techsystems Inc. $1.8 billion (€1.3 billion) to develop a motor for the Orion capsule, which will replace the space shuttle and be able to reach the moon and Mars, the company said.
The first-stage propulsion system will lift astronauts solely with solid fuel instead of a combination of solid and more volatile liquid fuel, the company said in a news release Friday.
The development contract doesn’t guarantee Alliant will produce the next generation of first-stage boosters, but Alliant’s Thiokol plant in northern Utah has made shuttle boosters from the start of the space shuttle program. Read more
