United Technologies Corp’s Collins Aerospace Systems has won a contract to support Nasa’s Orion spacecraft fleet.

Under the $320m contract awarded by Lockheed Martin, Collins Aerospace will supply key subsystems for Orion.

Lockheed Martin will use the subsystems in the production of Orion spacecraft fleet for Artemis missions III through VIII.

Collins Aerospace will provide environmental control, life support and active thermal control systems, which will allow the crew to maintain a healthy and comfortable environment, as well as liquid circulation across the spacecraft.

It will also provide power management, distribution hardware and waste management systems.

Collins Aerospace ISR and Space Solutions vice-president and general manager Kevin Raftery said: “We’ve been providing life-sustaining solutions for space for 50 years, and we’re proud to be working with Lockheed Martin and Nasa to enable decades of future exploration to the Moon, Mars and beyond.”

Collins Aerospace will develop the subsystems at its facilities in Windsor Locks, Connecticut; Houston, Texas; Rockford, Illinois; and San Dimas, California, US.

Built to transport humans to Moon and Mars, Nasa’s Orion spacecraft is an exploration vehicle that will provide an emergency abort capability and re-entry from deep space return velocities.

The systems supplied by Collins Aerospace will prove vital in supporting these missions.

Orion will be launched on the new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System, from Nasa’s modernised spaceport at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.