The largest producer of hydrogen in the world and a pioneer in energy transition initiatives, Air Products (APD), recently announced that it had been awarded a number of supply contracts worth more than $130 million by NASA to provide liquid hydrogen for various NASA locations, including the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and other NASA facilities.
Under one governmental contract, Air Products will deliver NASA liquid hydrogen to assist activities at the Kennedy Space Center and nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The multi-year contract, which is already in effect, includes a maximum value of approximately $75 million.
Air Products was also given a separate public contract by NASA for the supply of liquid hydrogen to locations across the organization, including the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and the Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. This contract had a maximum value of over $57 million.
Because of its special qualities, hydrogen is used by NASA as fuel in cryogenic rocket engines along with liquid oxygen, advancing the field of aviation.
“Air Products has a long history of working with NASA, stretching from the very beginning of the United States’ (U.S.) space program, to the Apollo 11 moon landing, and to the more recent missions to study Mars,” said Francesco Maione, Air Products’ President, Americas. We look forward to continuing our many decades-long working relationships with the U.S. space program and are proud to provide NASA with the industrial gases they need for their important work,” the company said.
Since the commissioning of an industrial gas plant in Ohio in 1957, Air Products and NASA have collaborated to advance the U.S. space program by providing NASA with liquid hydrogen and other industrial gases. Air Products has a long-standing partnership with NASA’s engine testing program at Stennis Space Center, Johnson Space Center in Texas, and Marshall Space Flight Center in addition to providing products for space launches.
Air Products has been a leader in hydrogen fueling for many years. The company works across all aspects of the hydrogen value chain, including production, distribution, storage, and dispensing. The Company has made an industry-leading commitment to investing at least $15 billion in clean energy megaprojects worldwide, including a $4.5 billion clean energy complex in Louisiana, a $1.6 billion (CAD) net-zero energy hydrogen energy complex in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, a multi-billion dollar investment in NEOM, Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with ACWA Power and NEOM, to build a world-scale green hydrogen production facility, and collaborating with World Energy to construct a world-scale hydrogen production facility
