Honeywell aerospace
Honeywell will supply key products for Nasa's Orion spacecraft. Credit: Nasa Orion Spacecraft.

Engineering services and aerospace systems provider Honeywell has secured a contract from Lockheed Martin to support the production of Nasa’s Orion spacecraft fleet.

The Orion spacecraft is part of Nasa’s Artemis missions, which will place humans on the moon’s surface, and aims to collect learnings and insights that will aim to send astronauts to Mars.

Under this contract, Honeywell is tasked to deliver 14 product types of both hardware and software for the spacecraft’s crew module and service module.

It includes guidance and navigation systems, barometric altimeter, inertial measurement system and GPS receiver, as well as command data handling items such as the vehicle management computer.

The displays and control products will include three display units and struts, seven control panels, and two hand controllers, and the core flight software for Artemis missions III to V.

The multibillion-dollar contract to develop the Orion spacecraft was initially awarded to Lockheed Martin by Nasa.

Honeywell Aerospace Space vice-president Mike Elias said: “This is a major win for our team in Clearwater, our space business and for Honeywell as a whole.

“Honeywell was present on all of Nasa’s previous crewed space missions, including those that brought humans to the moon for the first time, and we’re proud to be working with Lockheed Martin to help shape the future of human space exploration.”

Honeywell will manage and monitor the contract work from its Clearwater facility in Florida, US.

Work under the contract will also be carried out at its facilities in Glendale, Arizona; and Puerto Rico.

The Honeywell products will help to develop next-generation space exploration.