Two companies that competed against each other in a contested bid to design the next-generation space suit for NASA will now work together in a joint enterprise.
Dan Coulom, a spokesman for Hamilton Sundstrand, which is a partner of ILC Dover in the project, said Tuesday the venture will bid for the $745 million contract with Oceaneering International Inc.
A message seeking comment was left with the Houston-based Oceaneering International.
Oceaneering International, which is best known for providing deep water services and products to the oil and gas industry, was selected in June for the project.
Hamilton Sundstrand and ILC Dover, which established Exploration Systems & Technology as a joint venture, protested the contract award to Oceaneering. The two companies said they did not believe they got adequate information from NASA about losing the contract.
NASA later terminated the contract, saying it would re-evaluate cost proposals from Hamilton Sundstrand and Oceaneering.
The space suit has been a signature contribution to NASA by Hamilton Sundstrand since the 1960s and its initial loss was a hard blow.
Coulom said the Windsor Locks, Conn.-based Hamilton Sundstrand decided to work with Oceaneering following “a lot of debate inside the company.”
“We’re still very much in the space suit industry,” he said.
NASA spokesman Grey Hautaluoma said the space agency expects to award the contract in 2009 and is waiting for details from Hamilton Sundstrand and Oceaneering about how the two companies plan to work together on the project.
Coulom said Hamilton Sundstrand and Oceaneering have not yet worked out the details.
The new space suit, called an EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) suit by NASA, is being developed to protect astronauts during voyages to the International Space Station and the surface of the moon, where the space agency hopes to return by 2020.
The contract has three phases and calls for a total of 109 suits, 24 of which will be the lunar suits. (AP)
