Bechtel selected by NASA to design and build of second mobile launcher for Next U.S. heavy-lift rocket

June 27, 2019
Bechtel announced that it has been selected to design and build NASA's Mobile Launcher 2 platform.

RESTON, Va., - Bechtel announced that it has been selected to return to the Space Coast in Florida and the space and launch infrastructure market. NASA has chosen Bechtel National Inc., along with teaming subcontractors, to design, build, test, and commission Mobile Launcher 2, the ground structure that will be used to assemble and launch the next version of the Space Launch System rocket. SLS could one day take materials and astronauts to the Moon or Mars.

The cost-plus-award-fee contract carries an estimated value of approximately $383 million with a term of 44 months. Teaming with Bechtel are GP Strategies Inc., Astro Pak Corporation, BRPH Architects-Engineers, Inc. and Cimarron Software Services, Inc.

The 380-foot tall launcher, known as ML2, will consist of the launch platform and physical connections to NASA's ground infrastructure to provide stability, power, coolant, fuel, and communications prior to launch. ML2 must also interface with the Vehicle Assembly Building and a massive crawler to move the rocket to its launch location at NASA's famed Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center.

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