Dynetics

Last updated

Dynetics Inc.
Type Subsidiary
Industry Defense, Aerospace, Automotive, IT, Cybersecurity
Founded1974;49 years ago (1974)
Headquarters
1002 Explorer Building, Huntsville, Alabama
,
United States
Area served
worldwide
Key people
Steve Cook ( Group President) [1]
Paul Engola (Group Vice President) [2]
RevenueUS$293 M (2015)
Owner Leidos
Number of employees
1,900
Parent Leidos
Website www.dynetics.com

Dynetics is an American applied science and information technology company headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama. [3] Its primary customers are the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the United States Intelligence Community, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). [4]

Contents

History

Herschel Matheny and Dr. Steve Gilbert founded Dynetics in 1974. [3] During the 1980s, Dynetics expanded to include electro-optic and infrared sensors, missile systems analysis and design, software development, modeling and simulation, and foreign materiel exploitation of radars, missiles, and missile seekers. [3]

In the 1990s, Dynetics continued to grow its core business and expanded into the automotive supply industry as a provider of electrical test systems. [5] Since 2000, Dynetics has been selling information technology (IT) and cybersecurity services, including winning a contract to provide IT services to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). [6] The company entered the space business with the development of the FASTSAT (Fast Affordable Science and Technology Satellite) nanosatellite and the purchase of Orion Propulsion. [7] [8] Its space business continued to grow with a 2013 selection to compete for the Space Launch System Advanced Booster design contract with NASA. [9] [10]

On 17 December 2019, Leidos announced the purchase of Dynetics for US$1.65 billion, [11] and acquisition was complete on 31 January 2020. [12]

Operations

Dynetics divides its services and products into the following categories: intelligence, missiles, aviation, cyber, automotive, and space. [13] The company opened a new building in 2012 called "The Solutions Complex" that is 226,500 sq ft (21,040 m2) of research and development facilities located in Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama. [13] Dynetics operates remote operations additionally in Michigan, Florida, Virginia, Ohio, and Texas. [14]

Projects

Dynetics served as systems integrator for the development of what was then the world's largest precision-guided air-dropped system, the 22,600 lb (10,300 kg) MOAB bomb. [20]

In May 2014, Dynetics announced that they will build up to 18 satellites to orbit Earth, in order to gather more data about the planet for the government and businesses. The company will be partnering with OmniEarth LLC, Harris Corp. and Draper Laboratories for the project. [21] Dynetics also partnered with rocket propulsion company Aerojet Rocketdyne to help design upgrades to NASA's Space Launch System. [22]

In 2016, Dynetics was one of four companies to be awarded a contract by DARPA for an air-recoverable experimental unmanned aerial vehicle. Dynetics was chosen from the four companies to build the aircraft, which became the Dynetics X-61 Gremlins. The first X-61A made its maiden flight in January 2020. [23]

Dynetics Human Landing System

Dynetics, working with Sierra Nevada Corporation's Space Systems participated in some early human landing system (HLS) design studies under NASA's HLS Appendix E program. They submitted a proposal to NASA for HLS Appendix H for a concept called the Dynetics Human Landing System (DHLS), which in April 2020 was one of three proposals funded for further design work in a US$253 million in NASA development funding contract during 2020/2021, along with Blue Origin's Integrated Lander Vehicle (US$579 million) and SpaceX' Starship HLS (US$135 million). [24] [25] [26] At the end of the ten-month program, NASA will evaluate which contractors will be offered contracts for initial demonstration missions and select firms for development and maturation of lunar lander systems. [26]

NASA's Stephen Jurczyk identified the fuel drop tanks and low crew module as innovative strengths, but the propulsion system was a low-maturity risk. They received a management rating of "very good" but a technical rating of "marginal", making the Dynetics proposal the worst-rated project. [27] [28] [29] [30]

Robert Wright of Dynetics reported that the Dynetics team selected methane and LOX as the fuel/oxidizer system for their HLS lander because their studies indicated that this choice offered the best combination of performance and long-term sustainability. [31]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rocketdyne</span> American rocket engine design and production company

Rocketdyne was an American rocket engine design and production company headquartered in Canoga Park, in the western San Fernando Valley of suburban Los Angeles, in southern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RS-25</span> Space Shuttle and SLS main engine

The Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25, also known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine that was used on NASA's Space Shuttle and is currently used on the Space Launch System (SLS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RL10</span> Liquid fuel cryogenic rocket engine, typically used on rocket upper stages

The RL10 is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine built in the United States by Aerojet Rocketdyne that burns cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. Modern versions produce up to 110 kN (24,729 lbf) of thrust per engine in vacuum. Three RL10 versions are in production for the Centaur upper stage of the Atlas V and the DCSS of the Delta IV. Three more versions are in development for the Exploration Upper Stage of the Space Launch System and the Centaur V of the Vulcan rocket.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Origin</span> American aerospace company

Blue Origin, LLC is an American aerospace manufacturer, defense contractor, launch service provider and space exploration company headquartered in Kent, Washington, United States. The company makes rocket engines for United Launch Alliance (ULA) and other customers as well as manufactures rockets, spacecrafts and heavy-lift launch vehicles. The company was selected as the second provider for lunar lander services for NASA's Artemis program and was awarded a $3.4 billion contract. The company has three rocket engines in production including the BE-3U, BE-3PM and BE-4. The company is working on a fourth rocket engine called the BE-7 which is still under development and when completed may be used on planetary bodies other than Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aerojet Rocketdyne</span> American technology-based manufacturer

Aerojet Rocketdyne is a subsidiary of American defense company L3Harris Technologies that manufactures rocket, hypersonic, and electric propulsive systems for space, defense, civil and commercial applications. Aerojet traces its origins to the General Tire and Rubber Company established in 1915, while Rocketdyne was created as a division of North American Aviation in 1955. Aerojet Rocketdyne was formed in 2013 when Aerojet and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne were merged, following the latter's acquisition by GenCorp from Pratt & Whitney. On April 27, 2015, the name of the holding company, GenCorp Inc., was changed to Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings was acquired by L3Harris in July 2023 for $4.7 billion.

Aerojet was an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California, with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange and Gainesville in Virginia, and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet was owned by GenCorp. In 2013, Aerojet was merged by GenCorp with the former Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to form Aerojet Rocketdyne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orbital Maneuvering System</span> Hypergolic orbital maneuvering engines used on NASAs Space Shuttle

The Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) is a system of hypergolic liquid-propellant rocket engines used on the Space Shuttle and the Orion MPCV. Designed and manufactured in the United States by Aerojet, the system allowed the orbiter to perform various orbital maneuvers according to requirements of each mission profile: orbital injection after main engine cutoff, orbital corrections during flight, and the final deorbit burn for reentry. From STS-90 onwards the OMS were typically ignited part-way into the Shuttle's ascent for a few minutes to aid acceleration to orbital insertion. Notable exceptions were particularly high-altitude missions such as those supporting the Hubble Space Telescope (STS-31) or those with unusually heavy payloads such as Chandra (STS-93). An OMS dump burn also occurred on STS-51-F, as part of the Abort to Orbit procedure.

The Rocket City Space Pioneers (RCSP) was one of 29 teams from 17 different countries officially registered and in the competition for the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) during 2010–2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne</span> Former American company that designed and produced rocket engines

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) was an American company that designed and produced rocket engines that use liquid propellants. It was a division of Pratt & Whitney, a fully owned subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation. It was headquartered in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California. In 2013, the company was sold to GenCorp, becoming part of Aerojet Rocketdyne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stratolaunch Systems</span> American space transportation venture

The Aerojet Rocketdyne AR1 is a 2,200-kilonewton-class (500,000 lbf) thrust RP-1/LOX oxidizer-rich staged combustion cycle rocket engine project.

Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) is a NASA program using a public-private partnership model that seeks commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities to support more extensive human space flight missions in the Proving Ground around and beyond cislunar space—the space near Earth that extends just beyond the Moon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Moon (spacecraft)</span> Lunar lander family developed by Blue Origin for the Artemis program

Blue Moon is a family of lunar landers and their associated infrastructure, intended to carry humans and cargo to the Moon, currently under development by a consortium led by Blue Origin and including Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics. Two versions of Blue Moon are under development: a robotic lander planned to land on the Moon in 2024, and a larger human lander planned to land a crew of four astronauts on the lunar surface for the NASA Artemis V mission in 2029.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Advanced Electric Propulsion System</span> Spacecraft propulsion system by NASA

Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) is a solar electric propulsion system for spacecraft that is being designed, developed and tested by NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne for large-scale science missions and cargo transportation. The first application of the AEPS is to propel the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) of Gateway, to be launched in 2024. The PPE module is built by Maxar space solutions in Palo Alto, California. Two identical AEPS engines would consume 25 kW being generated by the roll-out solar array (ROSA) assembly, which can produce over 60 kW of power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artemis program</span> NASA-led lunar exploration program

The Artemis program is a robotic and human Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along with five major partner agencies— the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and the Australian Space Agency (ASA). The Artemis program is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The main parts of the program are the Space Launch System (SLS), the Orion spacecraft, the Lunar Gateway space station, and the commercial Human Landing Systems. The program's long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate the feasibility of human missions to Mars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing Lunar Lander</span> Abandoned lunar lander proposal

The Boeing Human Landing System (HLS) was the name of a proposed lunar lander concept by Boeing that was submitted by Boeing to NASA on 5 November 2019 as part of the Artemis program and the NextSTEP H. The proposal was presented as the "quickest and simplest method" for a 2024 Moon landing. The lunar lander concept was not selected for funding by NASA as part of Artemis in the 30 April 2020 announcement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Starship HLS</span> Lunar lander variant of SpaceX Starship

Starship HLS, or Starship Human Landing System, is a lunar lander variant of the Starship spacecraft that is slated to transfer astronauts from a lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back. It is being designed and built by SpaceX under the Human Landing System contract to NASA as a critical element of NASA's Artemis program to land a crew on the Moon no earlier than 2026.

The Integrated Lander Vehicle (ILV) is a human spaceflight lunar lander design concept proposed in 2020/21 for the NASA Human Landing System (HLS) component of the Artemis program. Blue Origin was the lead contractor for the multi-element lunar lander that was to include major components from several large US government space contractors including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper Laboratory.

The Dynetics Autonomous Logistics Platform for All-Moon Cargo Access (ALPACA)—also known as Dynetics HLS—(ILV) is a human spaceflight lunar lander design concept proposed in 2020/21 for the NASA Human Landing System (HLS) component of the Artemis program. Dynetics was the lead contractor for the ALPACA lander—other contractors included Sierra Nevada Corporation—for NASA's Artemis Program.

The Human Landing System (HLS) is the spacecraft in NASA's Artemis program that is expected to land humans on the Moon. It is being designed to convey astronauts from the Lunar Gateway space station in lunar orbit to the lunar surface, sustain them there, and then return them to the Gateway station.

References

  1. ↑ "Leidos Leadership Team". leidos.com. Leidos.
  2. ↑ "Leidos Leadership Team". leidos.com. Leidos.
  3. 1 2 3 "Company Overview of Dynetics, Inc". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  4. ↑ "About Dynetics, Inc". Corporate Gray. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  5. ↑ Dunn, Jim. "Dynetics builds its modeling and simulation success by learning from previous jobs". Technology Alabama. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Freedom Teams with Dynetics to Win NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Information Technology Services (MITS) Contract". Freedom Information System. December 14, 2009. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  7. ↑ "FASTSAT Launch". NASA. November 17, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2013.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  8. ↑ "Dynetics Announces Purchase of Orion Propulsion". Space Fellowship. December 22, 2009. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  9. ↑ Lee Hutchinson (April 14, 2013). "How NASA brought the monstrous F-1 "moon rocket" engine back to life". ARS Technica. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 "NASA Selects Space Launch System Advanced Booster Proposals". NASA. June 6, 2013. Retrieved July 13, 2013.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  11. ↑ "Leidos to Acquire Dynetics, Strengthening its Innovation and Leadership Position in Defense, Intelligence, and Civil Markets" (Press release). Leidos. December 17, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Leidos Completes Acquisition of Dynetics, Expanding Company's Portfolio with New Offerings and Technical Capabilities". dynetics.com (Press release). Dynetics. January 31, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  13. 1 2 "Dynetic Opens New Solutions Complex". Spacefoundation.org. April 25, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Our Locations". Dynetics, Inc. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  15. 1 2 EMAHONEY (December 14, 2009). "Freedom Teams with Dynetics to Win NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Information Technology Services (MITS) Contract". Freedom Information System. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Dynetics gains US$335 million contract". December 14, 2009. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  17. ↑ Messier, Doug (October 2, 2012). "NASA Awards SLS Advanced Booster Contracts to ATK, Dynetics and Northrop Grumman". Parabolic Arc. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  18. ↑ El-Hasan, Muhammed (June 18, 2013). "Aerojet Rocketdyne, newly formed rocket engine maker, expects job stability, growth". Daily Breeze. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  19. ↑ Covault, Craig (March 3, 2016). "Air Force Funds Both AR1 and BE-4 Rocket Engine Development to Replace ULA's Russian RD-180". America Space. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  20. ↑ Kelley, Mike (December 15, 2011). "Dynetics to provide systems integration for new commercial space launch system". Huntsville Times. Retrieved December 18, 2011– via al.com.
  21. ↑ Roop, Lee (May 20, 2014). "Huntsville's Dynetics will build Earth-observing satellites to image entire planet every day". al.com. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  22. ↑ Roop, Lee (May 19, 2014). "New teaming in Alabama rocket industry as Aerojet Rocketdyne, Dynetics link up". al.com. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  23. ↑ "X-61A Gremlins Air Vehicle, United States of America". Air force Technology. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  24. ↑ Burghardt, Thomas (May 1, 2020). "NASA Selects Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX Human Landers for Artemis". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  25. ↑ Berger, Eric (April 30, 2020). "NASA awards lunar lander contracts to Blue Origin, Dynetics—and Starship". Ars Technica. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  26. 1 2 Potter, Sean (April 30, 2020). "NASA Names Companies to Develop Human Landers for Artemis Missions". NASA. Retrieved June 12, 2020.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  27. ↑ "Dynetics, Sierra Nevada bidding on Artemis lunar lander". SpaceNews. January 10, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  28. ↑ "NASA Selects Blue Origin, Dynetics, SpaceX for Artemis Human Landers". NASA. April 30, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  29. ↑ Jurczyk, Stephen (April 28, 2020). "NextSTEP H: Source Selection Statement: NextSTEP-2 Appendix H: Human Landing System Broad Agency Announcement NNH19ZCQ001K_APPENDIX-H-HLS". NASA. Retrieved June 11, 2020.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  30. ↑ https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/option-a-source-selection-statement-final.pdf PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  31. ↑ Wright, Robert (June 11, 2020). Human Landing System: Putting Boots Back on the Moon. American Astronautical Society. Event occurs at 52:45–53:17. Retrieved June 26, 2020– via YouTube. we down-selected to a LOX–methane approach
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.