NASA selects J.P. Donovan Construction in Florida to modify mobile launcher

WASHINGTON, 15 May 2013. J.P. Donovan Construction Inc. of Rockledge, Fla., won a NASA contract to modify the mobile launcher designed to enable the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket to send humans to an asteroid, Mars and other new destinations in the solar system.

The work under this firm fixed-price $20.7 million contract will begin in June and be completed in 18 months.

The mobile launcher is located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Kennedy is expanding its capabilities to support the SLS rocket and ground support infrastructure. The modifications will enable the mobile launcher to meet vehicle processing deadlines and the launch manifest for SLS.

SLS' first launch--a flight test to send an Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit without a crew--is scheduled for 2017.

NASA's asteroid initiative, proposed in the agency's budget request for fiscal year 2014, would use SLS and Orion to send astronauts to study a small asteroid that will have been redirected robotically to a stable orbit near the moon.

Midwest Steel Inc. of Detroit will be a major subcontractor to J.P. Donovan Construction.

Follow Avionics Intelligence news updates on Twitter (@Avionics_Intel), LinkedIn, and Google+.