NASA Awards Contract for Acquisition of Gaseous, Liquid Helium

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Sep 29, 2022, 18:26 ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA has selected three companies to supply 1.4 million liters of liquid helium and 87.7 million standard cubic feet of gaseous helium for use at facilities across the agency. The indefinite delivery requirements contract includes multiple firm-fixed price delivery orders. Awardees include:

Air Products and Chemicals Inc. of Allentown, Pennsylvania
Messer LLC of Bridgewater, New Jersey
Linde Inc. of Danbury, Connecticut

NASA requires helium to support the International Space Station Program as well as the Space Launch System and Orion Programs that support Artemis, the agency's missions to the Moon. Helium is an inert gas for purging hydrogen systems, a pressurizing agent for ground and flight fluid systems, a cryogenic agent for cooling various materials, and a commodity used in precision welding applications.

The contract begins Saturday, Oct. 1, with a two-year base period followed by an option period that, if exercised, would extend the contract to Sept. 30, 2025. The total value of the contract for the base plus option period is approximately $149 million.

The agency uses helium at its facilities across the nation, including Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Glenn Research Center and Armstrong Test Facility in Cleveland; Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Kennedy Space Center (including Cape Canaveral Space Force Station) in Florida; Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas; Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama; Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans; Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi; Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia; and White Sands Test Facility, Las Cruces, New Mexico.