CSC over the moon with Nasa deal

IT services firm CSC has won a contract worth up to $93m to provide network maintenance and data management for rocket testers at Nasa.

CSC is to work alongside Science and System Applications to develop Nasa's modelling and prototype development operations at its 13,500-acre test facility, the John C. Stennis Space Centre in Mississippi.

The centre is Nasa's primary location for testing and flight-certifying rocket propulsion systems for the space shuttle and future generations of space vehicles.

As well as testing new spacecraft, Nasa uses the Stennis Space Centre to study the interactions between continents, atmosphere, oceans, ice and life as part of its Earth Science Applications Directorate.

"This agreement will allow us to apply our leadership and experience in delivering IT solutions to meet the specific requirements of the centre's important propulsion test programmes," said Tom Anderson, president of CSC's IT and science solutions group, in a statement.

CSC has been awarded the contract for a one-year period, with options for a further four-year extension. If retained for the entire five years, the contract will be worth $93m.