NASA Ames Awards Task Order Modification for Wind Tunnel Upgrades 

NASA has awarded a task order modification to the Aerospace Testing and Facilities Operations and Maintenance (ATOM-5) contract to Jacobs Technology Inc., of Tullahoma, Tennessee, to provide the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, with an upgrade to the center’s Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel main drive speed control variable frequency drive. 

The ATOM-5 award is a cost-plus fixed-fee indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract that supports several experiments in the ground-based aerospace facilities at Ames, including wind tunnels, high-enthalpy arc jet facilities, and the Sensor and Thermal Protection System Advanced Research Lab. The task order award value is $41 million with a period of performance through Oct. 1, 2027.

The project will upgrade the electrical system of its wind tunnel to improve the efficiency and capability of the main drive motors. These motors are required to operate the 11-by-11-foot Transonic Wind Tunnel and 9-by-7-foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel facilities at Ames. The upgrade is expected to result in improved facility reliability, reductions in annual power and water usage, reduction of maintenance requirements, and elimination of environmental hazards allowing the facility to continue to support NASA missions and programs into the future.

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Rachel Hoover

Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, Calif.

650-604-4789

rachel.hoover@nasa.gov