Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. in Jefferson County was officially tapped Monday as the leader of one of two teams to develop NASA’s crew exploration vehicle, the successor to the space shuttle.
The CEV project could mean hundreds of new jobs in Jefferson County. Lockheed will race against a competing team – based in El Segundo, Calif. – led by Northrop Grumman and The Boeing Co. in the design and production of the CEV. One of the two teams will be selected in early 2006 to build the CEV.
“They’ve complimented us on the quality of our proposal, but now the challenge is to make it even better in the next six months to win,” said Lockheed deputy program manager Larry Price.
NASA’s move Monday is aimed at carrying astronauts on the CEV into low-Earth orbit soon after 2010 and onto the moon as early as 2015.
A previous plan was to select a single contractor in 2008 for a low-Earth orbit mission in 2014.
“We’re trying to accelerate the crew exploration vehicle to fill the gap, so there is not a gap between CEV and retirement of the space shuttle. We’re trying to accelerate the whole process,” NASA spokesman Michael Braukus said.
Estimates under the old plan were for Lockheed to hire 300 to 500 through 2008, and for each of the two teams to get $750 million to $1 billion through 2008. Those numbers will most likely change because of the expedited process.
Even under the quicker process, “we are certainly fully capable of getting this work done,” said Patrick McKenzie, Lockheed’s business development manager for the CEV.
Another change is that Lockheed will not do a demonstration flight unless it is selected as the final contractor.
Lockheed will soon be awarded some funding from NASA to continue on the next phase of development of the CEV, and the company will need to significantly ramp up staffing for the project.
It is unclear how much funding Lockheed will win or how many jobs will be added.
Only about three dozen employees are working on the project at Lockheed at Waterton Canyon now, along with another three dozen at other locations and at subcontractor locations.
NASA is “still in the process of determining what work we want those people to do,” Braukus said.
NASA’s fiscal 2005 budget for the CEV is $422 million. The budget request for fiscal 2006 is $753 million.
Lockheed was previously awarded about $5 million to get to this point in the process. Much of its work involves private investment by Lockheed.
The company has been investing in the next generation of human spaceflight for NASA for 20 years.
There was little doubt that Lockheed’s team and the Boeing-Northrop Grumman team would each be selected to compete, because theirs were the only two complete proposals submitted for two slots.
But, “it’s never a shoo-in,” Price said, because NASA could have said a proposal was unacceptable.
Lockheed recently teamed with Boeing for production of launch rockets. Lockheed is designing the CEV to be launched on whatever launch system NASA chooses, McKenzie said.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-820-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
