Additional Spacecraft Facility To Be Built In CA
Commercial space service provider
Spacehab, Inc. told ANN Wednesday its Astrotech Space Operations
subsidiary has been awarded a $20.0 million contract to design and
build a payload processing facility for the U.S. Government, Office
of Space Launch.
This facility, to be used for pre-launch spacecraft processing,
will be located on the Company's existing 60-acre site at
California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, and will enhance the West
Coast capabilities already provided.
Under a firm fixed-price contract with the Government, design
work begins immediately with construction commencing March 2007 and
concluding September 2009. Under the terms of the contract, the
Company will design and construct the facility to government
requirements while maintaining ownership and operation of the
facility.
"This contract not only gives us the means to support the needs
of this latest customer, but helps us grow our operations and
service offerings to all customers on the West Coast," said Jim
Royston, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Astrotech.
The Company currently owns and operates a full-service facility for
processing satellites and upper stages at Vandenberg Air Force
Base, supporting expendable Atlas, Delta, Pegasus, and Taurus
launches from the Western Range. The new facility will include
8,000 square feet of additional capacity that enables the
processing of payloads that will utilize up to five-meter
fairings.
The Company was awarded a $1.2 million contract in May 2006 to
perform the feasibility study and preliminary design for this
payload processing facility. The contract called for an engineering
and concept development report for a new processing facility and
associated infrastructure. As intended, this effort led to the
contract award for final design and construction of the processing
facility.
Astrotech has extensive experience in designing, building, and
operating spacecraft processing facilities. The Company's
Titusville, FL location is situated on a 62-acre tract
approximately three miles west of Kennedy Space Center, adjacent to
the Spacecoast Regional Airport. This complex consists of nine
major buildings dedicated to spacecraft non-hazardous processing,
hazardous processing, payload storage, warehouse storage, and
customer office accommodations.
With over 150,000 square feet of facility space, Astrotech
processes virtually all US-based commercial spacecraft at this
location and a considerable percentage of government payloads.