"6_2_15_10.TXT" (4905 bytes) was created on 05-02-89

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           ADVANCED SOLID ROCKET MOTOR (ASRM) PROJECT

     The Advanced Solid Rocket Motor project is intended to 
substantially improve the flight safety, reliability and 
performance of the Space Shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters for the 
many years in the future that the Shuttle will remain a principal 
U.S. launch vehicle.

     Key objectives of the project are to achieve significant 
improvements over the current Redesigned Solid Rocket Motor in 
the areas of:

   o  Flight safety design margins;
   o  System reliability, through enhancements in motor quality
      and reproducibility;
   o  Booster performance, along with the related aspect of
      Shuttle payload capacity; and
   o  Reduced overall program cost, through increased efficiency.

     In terms of performance, the Shuttle's projected 12,000-
pound extra lifting capability with the new motors will enable 
additional payload deliveries equivalent to 2.4 Shuttle missions 
per year, above the currently planned maximum of 14 per year.

     In addition to improved safety, reliability and performance, 
the next-generation booster project promises several broad 
national benefits.  For example, it will strengthen the nation's 
existing technology foundation as a base for future advances in 
solid fuel propulsion.  It will help promote a competitive solid 
rocket motor industry and reduce Shuttle operational costs.

     Substantial improvements are possible because of great 
technological progress made by the solid rocket motor industry 
since the current Shuttle booster was designed.  Some of the most 
significant strides have been in process control technology and 
automation, which enable achieving a high degree of product 
reproducibility and reliability.

     These improvements will be incorporated in modern production 
facilities that are to be built for the Advanced Solid Rocket 
Motor project and which will have a capacity of producing up to 
30 motors per year.  The facilities are planned for construction 
at the Yellow Creek site in extreme northeastern Mississippi, 
which is NASA's preferred site for the hardware production.

     Additional specialized facilities will be built at the John 
C. Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., NASA's 
preferred location for ground testing of the motors.  It also is 
planned that part of the effort will use NASA's existing 
facilities at the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans.

     The Advanced Solid Rocket Motor development program is 
expected to take approximately 5 years, with first use of the new 
motors in a Shuttle flight possible by 1994.  The cost of design 
and development is estimated at just under $1 billion, exclusive 
of facility costs, which are estimated at between $200 and $300 
million.  The design and development cost will include delivery
of rocket motors for six Shuttle missions (which will save $170-
180 million currently being paid for the old-technology motors).

     Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages 
the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor program for NASA.

Evolution of ASRM

     Since 1977, the Space Shuttle has consisted of a manned 
reusable orbiter, an expendable external tank for its liquid 
propellants, and two recoverable and reusable solid rocket 
boosters.  Each booster comprises several subsystems, the largest 
of which is the solid rocket motor with its igniter and nozzle.

     In 1986, following the Challenger accident, NASA contracted 
for a redesigned solid rocket motor, which would incorporate a 
number of design changes determined to be necessary before the 
Shuttle could return to flight.  The redesign effort was oriented 
toward providing a motor that is safe to fly, while at the same 
time keeping impact to the Shuttle launch schedule at a 
minimum.  Therefore, the redesign was based on use of existing 
hardware wherever possible, without compromising safety.

     To meet its longer-term solid rocket motor requirements, 
NASA in March 1987 presented to Congress an acquisition strategy 
and plan.  The plan analyzed three options:  recompeting the 
redesigned solid rocket motor; continuing single-source 
procurement of the redesigned motor; or proceeding with an 
Advanced Solid Rocket Motor, which had already been the subject 
of NASA-funded studies by industry.

     NASA recommended the third option, and in October 1987,
through the NASA Authorization Act of 1988, Congress indicated 
its approval for that approach.  In March 1988, NASA published an
acquisition plan detailing how it would implement the Advanced
Solid Rocket Motor program.  With issuance of the request for
proposals in August 1988, the procurement began in earnest.
Evaluation of proposals has been under way since November 1988,
and selection of a prime contractor is expected to be announced
this month (April 1989).

                             - end -

