MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: Mary Beth Murrill
May 3, 1999
BALL AEROSPACE SELECTED FOR NEGOTIATIONS ON JPL CONTRACT
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.,
has selected Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.,
for negotiations for a new contract that will lead to the
development of instruments and subsystems for robotic spacecraft
used in space exploration and Earth-orbiting missions.
The Flight Instrument and Subsystem Tasks (FIST) contract
consists of a 5-year commitment to provide subsystem hardware for
JPL projects, and includes two 5-year options. The contract is
worth up to approximately $350 million over 15 years.
"With the combination of downsizing at JPL and an increasing
workload, we're forging more partnerships with industry to fill
the gap, and this contract is an example," said Fred Vescelus,
deputy program manager for JPL's Earth Science Flight Experiments
Program Office.
"Work performed by the contractor will help us keep up with
engineering development of spacecraft subsystems, detailed
assembly piece/part work, and total system contracting," Vescelus
said. The contractor will perform various tasks, including
designing, building and testing hardware for JPL programs. Some
tasks will require building hardware from existing designs, while
other tasks will require new designs.
Negotiation of the contract is expected to take two to three
weeks.
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, Calif.
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