Eight aerospace firms will supply Nasa with spacecraft and services under a rapid spacecraft acquisition III contract.
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Thales Alenia and General Dynamics are among the firms to have been awarded the contract, which has a potential value of $4bn.
Under rapid III, firms will provide core spacecraft systems with the necessary modifications to meet specific mission needs.
Work will include design and development and testing of the core spacecraft, payload integration and testing, launch operations support and on-orbit checkout.
