Lockheed Martin on Wednesday said its planned joint venture with Boeing in Colorado is on track and also announced that it has won a NASA contract connected to the Mars program.
Lockheed won a preliminary contract from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the Mars Science Laboratory aeroshell system. The parties have yet to finalize the value of the contract.
Scheduled for launch in the fall of 2009, the Mars Science Laboratory rover will support the exploration for water on Mars and help NASA prepare for human exploration.
Lockheed’s Jefferson County facilities have built space capsules currently gathering data from the Red Planet.
Separately, the company said that its joint venture with Boeing – to be called United Launch Alliance and based in Jefferson County – is proceeding.
Lockheed and Boeing are proposing to combine their government rocket launch businesses to cut costs, bringing roughly 800 jobs to Colorado.
“In view of the progress being made – and our hope is that approval by the government will be received in the near future – both Lockheed Martin and Boeing will continue to work toward closure,” said Tom Greer, a spokesman for Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Defense have been reviewing the venture – which could save the government up to $150 million annually – since May.
Greer said the companies don’t plan to exercise a provision that allows either firm to terminate the deal if it isn’t approved by the end of this month.
The FTC is expected to approve the rocket-launch venture in the next several weeks, barring a last-minute hitch, The Wall Street Journal reported online Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
Staff writer Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-820-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com.
