Launch Services Contract Awarded to Blue Origin
NASA has awarded a launch services contract to Blue Origin and their New Glenn launch service in accordance with the NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract's on-ramp provision. The New Glenn launch service will be available to NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) to use for future missions in accordance with the on-ramp provision of NLS II.
The NLS II is a multiple-supplier, multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract vehicle with an ordering period through June 2025 and an overall period of performance through December 2027. Each supplier that is a part of NLS II has its own individual contract with LSP. The NLS II on-ramp provision provides an opportunity annually for new launch service providers to be added as a potential supplier and to compete for future NASA missions. The on-ramp provision also allows existing NLS II launch service providers to introduce launch vehicles not currently on its NLS II contract.
NLS II contractors must have the ability to successfully launch and deliver a payload to orbit using a domestic launch service capable of placing, at minimum, a 551-pound payload into a 124 mile circular orbit at an inclination of 28.5 degrees.
The NLS II contracts support the goals and objectives of the agency's Science Mission Directorate, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, and the Space Technology Mission Directorate. Under the contract, NASA can also provide launch services to other government agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Named after pioneering astronaut John Glenn, New Glenn is a single configuration heavy-lift launch vehicle capable of carrying people and payloads routinely to Earth orbit and beyond, featuring a reusable first stage built for 25 missions.
BE-4, the world’s most powerful liquid oxygen / liquefied natural gas engine, will enable New Glenn to launch payloads over 13 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit and 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit beginning in 2021.
(Source: NASA news release. Additional information and image provided by Blue Origin)