Leidos’ Dynetics scores $90M NASA contract

Dynetics Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Leidos Holdings Inc., has received a potential $90 million contract from NASA to produce a laser air monitoring system (LAMS) for the agency’s Orion spacecraft, beginning with the Artemis III mission, which plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972’s Apollo 17 mission.

Derived from an air monitoring system flown on the Mars Curiosity rover, LAMS  is a new air monitoring technology that will measure oxygen, carbon dioxide, water vapor, temperature and pressure within Orion during Artemis missions to the Moon. The system is accurate enough to detect unsafe levels of these elements in cabin air composition, giving crews time to respond.

Dynetics also created the first version of the system for NASA to use in the Artemis II Orion spacecraft, scheduled to be the first manned mission in NASA’s Artemis lunar program.

The contract is valued at $17.8 million for production of the Artemis III LAMS unit, as well as a qualification unit, design modifications and long-lead procurement items in support of the Artemis IV and V missions, but the contract has a maximum potential value of $90 million, should additional flight units or components be needed for the Orion program or other NASA programs and projects. The period of performance extends through 2025, according to the release.

Located in Huntsville, Alabama, Dynetics offers engineering, scientific, IT solutions to the national security, cybersecurity, space and critical infrastructure sectors. Dynetics is currently protesting NASA’s $2.89 billion contract award for the design of the human lunar lander to billionaire Elon Musk’s California-based SpaceX. Dynetics and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space company were also in the running and both have entered formal protests of the contract award.