Hamilton Sundstrand to Join Lockheed Martin Team on Project Orion

Windsor Locks, Conn.-based Hamilton Sundstrand, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. in Hartford, has been named to a Lockheed Martin-led team selected to develop NASA’s new Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle.

The work is worth several hundred million dollars to Hamilton Sundstrand, according to company officials.

Other companies involved in the Orion project, which aims to build America’s next generation of spacecraft for exploration, include Aerojet General Corp., Honeywell International Inc., Orbital Sciences Corp. and the United Space Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing Co. which is the prime contractor for the space shuttle program.

Hamilton Sundstrand will provide 13 key systems to the exploration vehicle, including the fire detection and suppression system, carbon monoxide removal/humidity control system, pressure control system, atmospheric monitoring system, cabin air ventilation and potable/cooling water storage.

Hamilton Sundstrand will also support Lockheed Martin as a systems integrator in the development of the new vehicle, integrating the vehicle’s power management and distribution, environmental and life support, actuation, and extra vehicular activity interface systems.

The Orion project, which is estimated to cost $3.4 billion, aims to be ready to carry crew and materials to the International Space Station by 2014 and to the moon and back by 2020.

Development of the vehicle has already begun. Hamilton Sundstrand will sustain production and engineering through 2019, officials said.

Ken Clavert Offers Congratulations to Lockheed Martin

Congressman Ken Calvert offered congratulations to the employees of Lockheed Martin today for developing the winning proposal for NASA’s new spacecraft, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle to be launched on the Ares launch vehicle. The Orion will replace the Space Shuttle which is to be retired in 2010.

“My hat is off to Lockheed Martin for developing the winning design. Both the Northrop Grumman/Boeing and Lockheed Martin teams did a fantastic job and I am confident technology from each will play a role in the final Constellation Launch System. The Orion selection shows that NASA is serious about implementing the Vision for Space Exploration and sending humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond,” said Calvert, who serves as the Chairman of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee in the House of Representatives.

“Today’s decision comes just two weeks after NASA committed to relying on the entrepreneurial space sector to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) will give Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Rocketplane Kistler the chance to prove that private companies can take over some of the more routine aspects of space flight and free up NASA resources for bold exploration missions.”

“Congress recognizes new innovations like the Orion Project need a long-term financial commitment. We now must commit to fully funding NASA at the level specified in the two year authorization passed last year. The current appropriations bill falls about $1 billion short of that goal. I am hopeful that NASA funding will be restored to the level I included in our NASA authorization last year, $17.9 billion.”