Contract extension for NASA facility in N.O. includes LSU

Published Aug 2, 2012 at 3:00 pm (Updated Aug 2, 2012)

A five-year extension of an agreement to support and develop the National
Center for Advanced Manufacturing located at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans was signed today by officials from NASA, the state, LSU and the University of New Orleans. NASA is building the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and plans to build components of its next-generation Space Launch System at Michoud, which supported the Space Shuttle program through its final mission in 2011. At the same time, the state and UNO have provided major tooling and advanced materials resources, as well as research and development assistance, to back both NASA's exploration and discovery mission. That partnership, in place since 1999, continues through 2017 with the latest agreement by the parties. Located on an 832-acre site in eastern New Orleans, the Michoud facility is one of the world's largest manufacturing centers, with 43 acres under a single roof and deepwater access enabling transportation of large space systems and hardware. To date, Louisiana has invested more than $62 million in the NCAM partnership. For the first time, the latest NCAM agreement brings LSU's technology, engineering and research resources into the partnership. "As Michoud evolves from a single-tenant, single-mission facility into a multi-tenant, advanced manufacturing facility, it makes sense for us to enhance NCAM's ability to support that new paradigm by taking advantage of the unique capabilities offered by both LSU and UNO," says LED Secretary Stephen Moret. Read more about the new agreement here.