NASA has selected Teledyne Brown Engineering of Huntsville, Alabama, to design and build the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter, which will connect the Orion capsule to the core stage. Canvas is very excited to subcontract with Teledyne Brown, as this is Canvas’ first time supporting a NASA program.
Under a five year, $60 million contract, Teledyne Brown and Canvas will design, develop, test, and verify the LVSA. They will also build the structural flight test article and two units, which will be used on actual flights. The component is the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter (LVSA), which will be used to connect the rocket’s 27.5-foot diameter core and 16.4-foot diameter Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) while providing a protective envelope for the ICPS propulsion system.
The SLS is an advanced, heavy-lift vehicle, which will provide an entirely new capability for science and human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. The SLS will give the nation a safe, affordable and sustainable means of reaching beyond our current limits and will open new doors of discovery from the unique vantage point of space. The SLS will be the most powerful rocket in history and will be designed to be flexible and evolvable, to meet a variety of needs of the crew and cargo. According to a release issued by NASA, the work will be completed under a cost reimbursement, fixed-fee engineering solution and prototyping contract. This award has a potential performance period of five years and includes an option for a third flight unit. The first flight of the SLS is currently scheduled to blast off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch complex in 2017.