Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is among 12 companies chosen to collaborate with NASA on new technologies that could become part of future missions to the moon and Mars.
Blue Origin has signed up to work with NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia and Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama on friction-stir additive manufacturing. It’ll also partner with Langley as well as Ames Research Center in California to work on a metallic thermal protection system.
“We’re pleased to have been selected by NASA to partner on developing these technologies,” Blue Origin said in an email to GeekWire.
NASA says Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin and the other 11 companies will advance capabilities and technologies related to the space agency’s Moon to Mars Objectives. The work will be done under the terms of unfunded Space Act Agreements, following up on an Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity issued last year.
That means no money will be transferred between NASA and its partners. Instead, NASA will make its in-house expertise available to help the companies develop products that the space agency could procure for future missions.
“By sharing our knowledge and facilities with U.S. companies, NASA helps mature capabilities that promise to benefit our objectives and the entire aerospace industry,” Jim Reuter, the agency’s associate administrator for space technology, said today in a news release. “These awards allow us to work with both small and large companies to advance some of the most crucial technologies for future exploration.”
Blue Origin already has been collaborating with NASA on a wide range of technologies, including in-space resource utilization and a precision landing system that could be used for future missions to the moon. The company is also using additive manufacturing, also known as 3-D printing, to produce components for its New Shepard and New Glenn rockets, including engine parts.
The other 11 companies participating in the latest round of public-private space technology collaborations are:
Aerojet Rocketdyne in El Segundo, Calif.: Fully additively manufactured LOX-LH2 engine demonstration (collaborating with Marshall). Electrically actuated quick-disconnect coupling for cislunar and lunar surface cryogenic propellant transfer (Marshall).
Boeing Co. in Arlington, Va.: Complex curvature retractable pin tool friction-stir welding pathfinder campaign (Marshall).
Canopy Aerospace in Denver: Low-cost reusable thermal protection system substrates as an alternative to alumina-enhanced thermal barrier (Ames).
Lockheed Martin in Bethesda, Md.: Friction-stir welded blanks for advanced formed shapes (Langley). In-space manufacturing technologies for thermoplastic composites (Glenn, Goddard, Langley and Marshall). Oscillating heat pipe technology for aero entry and commercial applications (Ames and Marshall).
Maxar in Westminster, Colo.: Automated robotic assembly of the Light Bender system (Langley).
Phase Four in El Segundo, Calif.: Development of an ASCENT (Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic) gas feed system for the Phase Four RF (Radio Frequency) thruster (Marshall).
Psionic in Hampton, Va.: Commercial wind measurement constellation (Langley).
Roccor (Redwire) in Erie, Colo.: Characterization of high aspect ratio booms for large apertures (Langley).
Sierra Space in Louisville, Colo.: Development of low-cost, high-temperature reusable thermal protection system (Ames and Johnson).
Stratolaunch in Mojave, Calif.: Bringing shuttle orbiter TPS (thermal protection system) into the 21st century (Ames).
Venturi Astrolab in Hawthorne, Calif: Demonstrating tire technology readiness for lunar rovers (Glenn and Johnson).
