NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has selected Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services Inc. to deliver an Atlas V rocket for the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which aims to land a large rover on the red planet in the fall of 2009.
The six-wheeled, Volkswagen-sized rover would explore Mars for a designed mission lifetime of two years, examining sites to identify where the building blocks for life once may have existed.
The total MSL launch service price is $194.7 million. That cost includes NASA launch services and mission integration requirements. This is a firm-fixed price contract. The launch services for the mission are being acquired under NASA's existing launch services multiple-award procedures.
Principal work for the Atlas V Centaur propellant tank will be performed at LM's San Diego facility in California, while the primary work location for the Atlas V booster propellant tank's production will be done at the company's facility in Waterton, Colo.
The MSL is scheduled to launch from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology. JPL is responsible for spacecraft design and integration, integration of science instruments, spacecraft system testing, launch operations support, and support of mission operations.
