With support for NASA’s Orion program pouring in from small businesses all around the country, the benefits of future deep space exploration are actually very down-to-Earth.
Nearly every state in the U.S. has small businesses within it that provide essential support and services to this spacecraft which will carry humans to multiple deep space destinations and return them safely to Earth.
The Orion crew vehicle will launch in 2018 on top of NASA’s new rocket, Space Launch System (SLS). The spacecraft will fly thousands of miles beyond the moon before returning to Earth. On the flights following this first integrated mission with SLS, Orion will have humans onboard.
Looking more closely at a few of the small businesses that support the Orion program, we can better understand the cross-benefit that the companies and NASA receive as a result of their continued collaboration.
Cimarron Software Services, Inc. has been supporting Orion since 2007. The woman-owned small business contributes to the program in many ways: it supports trade studies, analyses, requirements definition, design, software, testing, safety, and mission assurance and operations. Cimarron adds value to Orion through their support of Orion Data Services which manages the data used in electronic ground support equipment, simulation, and flight software.
The company has supported human space flight since 1988. Selected as a NASA Woman-Owned Business of the Year Award winner and Subcontractor of the Year at Johnson Space Center, Cimarron currently supports Orion in Denver, CO and Houston, TX.
Through their involvement with Orion, Cimarron has been able to continue strengthening its software engineering, information management, and configuration management services. The company is focused on continuing to support current and new NASA programs.
In Placentia, CA, Coast Aerospace Manufacturing, Inc. supports Orion by machining several of its titanium heat shield struts. This small disadvantaged business has 45 employees and has grown about 7 percent in personnel and revenue due to their involvement with Orion and the major subcontractors for the program.
Coalition member Deep Space Systems (DSS) has provided support to Orion since 2006. The company tripled in size since they began supporting Lockheed Martin on the Orion proposal. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the Orion crew vehicle, and is a founding member of The Coalition. DSS has 30 employees who share a passion for space exploration. The woman-owned small business has contributed to the program through definition of the flight avionics architecture, flight and ground software, and test systems in addition to systems for backup, emergency and survival to ensure the crew onboard Orion will return safely to Earth.
More specifically, DSS has supported Orion in a multitude of areas that include systems engineering and integration, the requirements and test architecture and planning for avionics, environmental life support systems integration, and guidance, navigation, and control analysis and development. As a result of their work on Orion, the company was NASA’s Small Business Subcontractor of the Year in 2009.
Each an important component in Orion’s success, these are just a few of the more than 800 small businesses that have contributed to NASA’s Orion Program. Through Orion, the country remains actively involved in enabling the future of human deep space exploration.
Learn more about the spacecraft that will take humans to deep space destinations at NASA.gov.