Week in review (8/11 to 8/17)

The August issue of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Newsletter published Friday with a cover story about the growth of the Interstate 10’s space activities along the Louisiana-Mississippi border. It focuses on Relativity Space’s decision to build rockets at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

We also have a story on how Airbus is building its first A220 in Mobile before the completion of the A220 final assembly line. There’s also a wrap-up about some of the other key news items during the past couple of months – notably a piece on the ups and downs of a major project. In this case, the building of a maintenance, repair and overhaul campus in Pensacola.

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Now for your week in review:

Space

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine was in New Orleans Thursday to visit Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF), where the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) is built. He said the 2024 mission to the moon is to test the moon’s resources.

Bridenstine said 90 percent of the project is complete. During a meeting with the media, Bridenstine stood in front of the center piece of the rocket, the core stage. Crews are preparing to add the final section before moving the rocket to Mississippi, according to WVUE in New Orleans.

The first SLS launch is the Artemis 1 mission, an uncrewed test flight of the rocket and an Orion capsule. Assembly of the core stage, the largest and most complex stage NASA ever has built, remains on schedule for completion before the end of the year. Comprised of two liquid propellant tanks and four RS-25 engines, it will produce more than two million pounds of thrust. (Post)

Military

Battelle, a nonprofit research and development organization, will conduct laboratory and field tests of firefighting foam at the Air Force Civil Engineering Center on Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.

Firefighting foam used by the military contained PFAS, chemicals that have “since been linked to health issues like cancer,” a news release stated. PFAS use has since been phased out. Available foams could be modified to meet military standards, according to the release.

Battelle was awarded a contract as part of the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program. The project is part of the environmental research initiative by the Department of Defense. Battelle also will work with the Navy and Army to determine if the foams meet military specifications. (Post)

Contracts

Lord & Son Construction Inc., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was awarded a $32.1 million contract for construction of a Long-Range Stand-Off Acquisition Facility on Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Work will be performed in Eglin Air Force Base with an estimated completion date of Aug. 14, 2021. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Ala., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Fla., has been awarded a $99 million contract for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) foreign military sales production support. This contract will provide for lifecycle support for all efforts related to JASSM and any JASSM variants in the areas of system upgrades, integration, production, sustainment, management and logistical support. Work will be performed at Orlando and is expected to be completed by August 2024. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.