Three companies will split up to $47 million in NASA funds over the next five years for work on inflatable aerodynamic decelerators - possible components of future entry, descent and landing systems for crewed and uncrewed spacecraft. The cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity task order contracts were announced Dec. 22 in a NASA press release. The work includes design, analysis, fabrication and testing. Spacecraft equipped with lightweight aerodynamic decelerators would be able to carry a greater payload mass than craft that relied on bulkier systems, NASA said.
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