Nasa has awarded spacecraft avionics development contract to Charles Stark Draper Laboratory of Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, to provide development and operations support for the avionics software suite that will help the agency’s next-generation of manned spacecraft in low-Earth orbit.

The $38.7m cost-plus-fixed-fee/firm-fixed-price contract will be valid until March 2019.

The Advanced Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) and Avionics Technology Development and Analysis II contract, has provisions for two more option years, extending the deal until March 2021.

"The $38.7m cost-plus-fixed-fee/firm-fixed-price contract will be valid until March 2019."

The deal that aims to help the Engineering Directorate at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, US, with support services such as research, design analysis, development simulation, integration, testing operation and certification for advanced space systems.

Nasa plans to install avionics and other software developed under this contract on the International Space Station (ISS) and Orion spacecraft.

In addition, the majority of work will be carried out at contractor facilities located near Johnson Space Center, expects to help future Nasa science and exploration missions for crewed and robotic spacecraft.

The space agency also stated that services for the contract could be required at other Nasa centres, contractor or subcontractor locations, or vendor facilities under requirements.