Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAI) announced today that its subsidiary, Benham Companies LLC, has been awarded a $51.4 million cost-plus- incentive-fee contract by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to design, engineer and build two testing facilities. Both facilities will support development of the Orion spacecraft that will carry astronauts to the International Space Station and the moon in the next decade, and will be among the largest such facilities ever built.
The period of performance of the contract is 18 months, with an additional six months of post-commissioning technical support. The two projects will be developed at the Space Power Facility at Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, which is operated by NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. As part of the contract, Benham also will design and deliver a new high-speed data acquisition system to collect, correlate and analyze testing data from these two facilities.
The contract includes the following:
— The design and construction of a reverberant acoustic test facility to generate the sound levels a spacecraft will be exposed to during launch and during reentry. The 67,400 cubic foot chamber will be able to generate 163 decibels of sound power – the highest intensity acoustic facility of its size ever built. The Orion spacecraft will sit inside the enclosed chamber during testing.
— The design and construction of a 20-foot diameter mechanical vibration platform to test the spacecraft for physical vibration capabilities during Earth launch, orbit and during reentry. Once completed it will be the largest and most powerful vibration test facility every built.
— The design of a high-speed data acquisition system that will be used to collect and analyze data from the two testing facilities.
— The design and delivery of all control systems for both testing facilities.
These two new testing facilities and the other facilities being readied under separate efforts will allow the Orion spacecraft, consisting of the launch abort system and the crew and service modules, to undergo thermal- vacuum, acoustic, mechanical vibration and electromagnetic compatibility evaluations within the confines of the SPF during development and qualification.
These new testing facilities also will support NASA’s Constellation Program’s future spacecraft and other systems required for exploration missions to the moon, Mars and other destinations in the solar system.
“We look forward to leading the design-build effort to deliver one of the world’s largest high-intensity acoustic test chamber and the world’s largest and most powerful spacecraft vibration test system for NASA and the Orion Program,” said Bill Steen, Benham project director for the NASA contract.
Benham, a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIC, provides integrated architectural design, engineering, procurement and construction services for a broad spectrum of industries and facilities, delivering end-to-end solutions for government and private customers.
SAIC is a leading provider of scientific, engineering, systems integration and technical services and solutions to all branches of the U.S. military, agencies of the Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other U.S. Government civil agencies, as well as to customers in selected commercial markets. With more than 44,000 employees in over 150 cities worldwide, SAIC engineers and scientists solve complex technical challenges requiring innovative solutions for customers’ mission-critical functions. SAIC had annual revenues of $8.3 billion for its fiscal year ended January 31, 2007.
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