Satnews Daily
February 13th, 2013

NASA + Astrotech... On-Board For OCO-2 (Satellite)



Artistic rendition of NASA's OCO-2 satellite
[SatNews] Astrotech Corporation's (Nasdaq:ASTC) Astrotech Space Operations (ASO) subsidiary has been awarded a...

...NASA task order contract to provide payload processing services for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory - 2 (OCO-2) satellite at ASO's Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, facility. OCO-2 is the first mission awarded by NASA under the current Not-to-Exceed $16 million Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) task order contract that runs through December, 2017. The Jet Propulsion Lab satellite, scheduled to launch in July, 2014, will be NASA's first dedicated Earth remote sensing satellite to study atmospheric carbon dioxide from space.

In January, NASA awarded a Not-to-Exceed $9.1 million Infinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) task order contract to ASO Florida to provide commercial payload processing services for satellites launched at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. From Titusville, Florida, and Vandenberg AFB, California, Astrotech Space Operations provides all support necessary for Government and commercial customers to successfully process their satellite hardware for launch, including advance planning; use of unique facilities; and spacecraft checkout, encapsulation, fueling, and transport. In its 31-year history, Astrotech has supported the successful processing of more than 300 spacecraft.