NASA awards lunar lander contract

WASHINGTON, March 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency has selected five companies to receive contracts for a 210-day study to evaluate the agency's design concept for a lunar lander.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Constellation Program scientists produced the concept for the lander that will deliver four astronauts to the surface of the moon by 2020.

The awards total approximately $1.5 million, with a maximum individual award of $350,000. NASA said the recommendations will be used to increase the technical maturity of the existing design in preparation for the development of vehicle requirements.

The Constellation Program involves NASA's next generation fleet of spacecraft -- including the Ares I and Ares V rockets, the Orion crew capsule and the Altair lunar lander.

"These studies will provide valuable input for developing a sound set of requirements for the Altair lunar lander," said Jeff Hanley, the Constellation Program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Industry collaboration will provide insight for our planning and early design efforts for the spacecraft."

The selected companies are Andrews Space Inc., the Boeing Co., the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., the Northrop Grumman Corp., and Odyssey Space Research of Houston.