PRATT & WHITNEY ROCKETDYNE PRESS RELEASE
Dec. 13, 2010
NASA has awarded Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne a contract worth approximately $622,000 to conduct systems analysis and trade studies for heavy-lift launch vehicle system concepts, propulsion technologies and affordability. Â Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.
“As a provider of human-rated rocket engine technology with decades of proven success, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is honored to help NASA evaluate heavy-lift launch vehicle concepts and propulsion technologies for affordability and sustainability – aspects essential for future space exploration missions,” said Jim Maser, president, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
Under NASA’s Heavy Lift & Propulsion Technology Systems Analysis and Trade Study (HLPT), Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne will help NASA lay the groundwork for a flexible space transportation system that could deliver humans to asteroids, the moon, Mars and beyond. Â The study will include an assessment of how key development decisions may affect launch systems and overall mission architectures; how innovative or non-traditional technologies may be applied to heavy-lift systems to improve affordability and sustainability; and how aspects of a heavy-lift system, to be developed by NASA, could be leveraged by the Department of Defense, commercial entities and international partners.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines. Â For more information about Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, go to www.prattwhitneyrocketdyne.com.
Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and commercial building industries.