Wilmington, Mass. June 22, 2007 – Textron Defense Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems Corporation, a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, announced that it has been awarded a $24 million contract, which includes all options, by the NASA Ames Research Center to develop alternate heat shield materials for the Orion crew exploration spacecraft. Awarded on May 4, 2007, this contract will support further development and testing of heat shield materials, designs, and manufacturing processes for Alternate Block 2 Thermal Protection System (TPS) Materials and Heat Shield Systems Advanced Development.
This effort is a part of the NASA Constellation Program that is developing Orion as America’s primary vehicle for future human space exploration. Orion will carry astronauts to the International Space Station by 2015, with a goal of landing astronauts on the moon no later than 2020. The Orion TPS Advanced Development Project, led by the Ames Research Center from Moffett Field, California, was established to develop a heat shield to protect Orion during its return from low-Earth orbit or the moon.
Two proprietary Textron Defense Systems (TDS) materials will be evaluated during this program. According to Dr. Daniel Swallom, the Textron Defense Systems program director, “Both of these materials have been developed by Textron Defense Systems specifically for heat shield applications such as the Orion vehicle. As a result of the proven success of these materials, TDS is confident that each material can perform to the Orion Program specifications.”
One of these materials is a heat shield coating that was previously used on NASA’s Apollo Program. This material was flown successfully on 28 Apollo missions. The second is an advanced TDS material that was previously developed for a variety of advanced reentry vehicle heat shield applications. This type of material has been successful in ground and flight tests.
About Textron Systems Textron Systems Corporation (“Textron Systems”) provides innovative technology solutions to meet the needs of the defense, homeland security and aerospace communities. The company is known for its precision smart weapons, surveillance systems, complex intelligence and communications systems, aircraft control systems, piston engines, specialty marine craft and armored vehicles. Textron Systems is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Avco Corporation. Avco Corporation is wholly-owned subsidiary of Textron Inc. More information is available at http://www.textronsystems.com .
About Textron Textron Inc. is an $11 billion multi-industry company operating in 32 countries with approximately 40,000 employees. The company leverages its global network of aircraft, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Company, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, Fluid & Power, Textron Systems and Textron Financial Corporation. More information is available at http://www.textron.com/ .
