Dec 16 2008
From The Space Library
Boeing Company announced that it had filed a protest with GAO over a contract that NASA and NOAA had awarded to Lockheed Martin Space Systems on 2 December 2008. The contract for NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-R) Program had covered the design, development, and delivery of two satellites, as well as pre-launch, launch, and postlaunch support for the satellites. The base contract carried a total value of US$1.09 billion, with two options, each providing for one additional satellite. NASA and NOAA would use the data from the satellites’ Earth-viewing, solar-viewing, and space-viewing instruments for weather forecasting and for environmental, solar, and space science. Boeing had been the contractor for the previous series of GOES-R satellites.
NASA, “NASA Selects NOAA Goes-R Series Spacecraft Contractor,” news release C08-067, 2 December 2008, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/dec/HQ_C08067_GOES.html (accessed 22 August 2011); James Gunsalus, “Boeing Protests $1.09 Billion Satellite Award Won by Lockheed,” Bloomberg News, 16 December 2008.
Hamilton Sundstrand and Oceaneering International announced that they had resolved a contract dispute and planned the joint development of spacesuits for NASA’s Constellation Program. NASA had awarded the US$183.8 million contract for the Constellation Space Suit System to Oceaneering International in June 2008. Hamilton Sundstrand had filed a protest with GAO. In August 2008, NASA had decided to overturn the contract because of a compliance issue. NASA had later reopened the contract, and the two companies had agreed to pursue it together.
Susanna Ray, “Hamilton Sundstrand Joins with Oceaneering for NASA Spacesuit,” Bloomberg News, 16 December 2008.
The X Prize Foundation announced that two new teams had entered the Google Lunar X Prize. Euroluna was a European team primarily made up of members from Denmark, Italy, and Switzerland. Led by Palle Haastrup, the team planned to launch a small rover, which would have no redundant systems, so that it could maintain a low weight. Markus Bindhammer led the team Selene, based in China. The team planned to launch its Selena-1 lander in its Lunar Rocket Car– 1 (LuRoCa-1) rover. Fourteen other teams had signed up for the competition, which featured a US$20 million grand prize, a US$5 million second prize, and US$5 million in bonus prizes. The grand prize would go to the team that could land a spacecraft on the Moon, move it 500 meters (1,640.42 feet), and transmit images back to Earth.
Tariq Malik, “New Teams Join $30 Million Moon Rover Contest,” Space.com, 16 December 2008, http://www.space.com/6232-teams-join-30-million-moon-rover-contest.html (accessed 25 August 2011).
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