NASA Awards Space Station Cargo Mission Services Contract.NASA has awarded a contract with a potential value of $171 million to Lockheed Martin Corp. of Gaithersburg, Md., for support of International Space Station cargo mission services.The contract will support planning, coordination, preparation and packing of standardized containers for cargo missions to the station by international partner and commercial cargo vehicles. Lockheed Martin will process flight crew equipment including clothing and personal hygiene items, housekeeping items, audio and video equipment, laptop computers, batteries and crew survival equipment. The contract also includes provisions to support similar services for future vehicles to the station.A three-month phase-in period and the three-year basic period of the cost-plus-award-fee contract have a total estimated value of $85 million. The contract phase-in period begins Jan. 1, 2011. The basic period extends from April 1, 2011, through March 31, 2014. Exercising four one-year extension options worth a total of $86 million would bring the contract value to $171 million.Work on the contract will be performed at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and other Texas locations. Major Texas subcontractors include Bastion Technologies and Dittmar Associates, both of Houston; GHG Corp. of Webster; LZ Technology in Alvin; Rothe Enterprises in San Antonio; and the University of Texas at El Paso.www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/dec/HQ_C10-079_ISS_Cargo_Services.html
Quote from: Space Pete on 12/10/2010 09:51 pmNASA Awards Space Station Cargo Mission Services Contract.NASA has awarded a contract with a potential value of $171 million to Lockheed Martin Corp. of Gaithersburg, Md., for support of International Space Station cargo mission services.The contract will support planning, coordination, preparation and packing of standardized containers At the risk of sounding amateurish...I would imagine ~$25 million a year worth of laptops, clothing, cleaning supplies, digital cameras, and toiletries would be enough for a lot more than half a dozen astronauts. What exactly is causing this to be so expensive? What's the part making this $25 million a year instead of $25 thousand? I mean, I know it's "in space," but they are "only" packing the stuff into separately-paid-for Dragons, Cygnuses (Cygni?), Progresses, etc. What's the expensive part?
NASA Awards Space Station Cargo Mission Services Contract.NASA has awarded a contract with a potential value of $171 million to Lockheed Martin Corp. of Gaithersburg, Md., for support of International Space Station cargo mission services.The contract will support planning, coordination, preparation and packing of standardized containers
I would imagine ~$25 million a year worth of laptops, clothing, cleaning supplies, digital cameras, and toiletries would be enough for a lot more than half a dozen astronauts.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 12/10/2010 11:37 pmI would imagine ~$25 million a year worth of laptops, clothing, cleaning supplies, digital cameras, and toiletries would be enough for a lot more than half a dozen astronauts.It includes packing food, experiments, medical supplies, repair hardware, internal station ORUs, etc. Every thing that you see the astronauts touch that isn't part of a rack or station structure. This is a follow to the contract that prepares all the lockers for the shuttle.