Some facilities, like a launch pad, former shuttle hangars and a runway, are being leased to commercial companies or other government agencies. With the shuttle program's retirement in 2011 and tight budgets for space programs and keeping the center running, KSC is trying to "right-size" a sprawling inventory of more than 700 facilities on the 140,000-acre spaceport, a number of which NASA no longer need. "With a constrained budget forecast, we owe it to ourselves to look at options of how to operate the Center in a more sustainable manner." "We're going to see a dramatic return on investment with new facilities," Trey Carlson, KSC's master planner, said in the 2012 release. NASA estimates the consolidation and reduced operations and maintenance costs will save $400 million over 40 years. Overall, Central Campus plans call for the demolition of about 900,000 square feet of space and construction of modern facilities taking up half as much area. The project was expected to be completed in two phases, according to a 2012 press release. The first floor will house a cafeteria with an indoor-outdoor seating area, a credit union, barber shop, post office, large lobby with displays, gift shop, library and other services.įloors two through seven feature offices, conference rooms and break areas, topped by an eighth floor of mechanical support systems.Īn artist's rendering shows one side of the rectangular structure anchored by a slightly taller, curving white tower. NASA did not detail the new building's design Thursday, but a contract solicitation last year said it would stand eight stories tall and total about 200,000 square feet. It will replace the center's existing headquarters, a roughly 50-year-old building that eventually will be razed. The new building will be the centerpiece of what KSC calls the Central Campus, an initiative to replace aging Industrial Area facilities with more energy-efficient structures occupying a smaller footprint. NASA on Thursday announced the award of a two-year, $64.8 million contract to build the multi-story structure to Hensel Phelps Construction Co. The space agency still looks to the stars while achieving big wins back on earth.A gleaming and "green" new headquarters building will rise at Kennedy Space Center over the next two years. In the end, the data center efficiencies, reclamation of space to be redesigned as green buildings and dedicated to other priorities, and lessened staffing demands all lead to far fewer government dollars needed to keep NASA operational and on target to meet organizational goals for the future. As more automation is available, workforce demands will continue to recede in coming years. With a far more compact facility that is able to work with far heightened efficiency, the Kennedy Data Center will place far fewer demands on the IT and administrative workforce. The third efficiency created by the new Kennedy Data Center, after IT consolidation and building space reclamation, is in staffing. Green Building Council’s LEED program. Though the mission of NASA entails further outer space explorations, the space agency is also striving to be conscious stewards of efficient and renewable resources here on earth. Buildings that are currently being designed to inhabit those reclaimed spaces will be able to earn certification from the U.S. NASA will not only regain 45,000 square feet from data centers, it will also be able to tear down the 136,000 square foot Central Instrumentation Facility as well. Beyond that data efficiency, NASA will also be able to reclaim the space occupied by prior data centers, so that those spaces can be better utilized for future projects. In anticipation of that future, NASA designed the Kennedy Data Center to be three times more efficient than those centers it replaces. In addition, the center has been designed to easily take on future increased workloads and efficiently handle significant growth and demand.Īs America’s space agency looks to the future through far more high tech lenses than the past, demands for reliable and fast data processing and storage will increase exponentially. Using just 35% of the space, the Kennedy Data Center is able to manage the entire workload previously handled by all of the other facilities combined. Designed to comply with 2010 and 2012 initiatives to create data space synergies, the Kennedy Data Center replaces a total of 5 other facilities, which occupied 45,000 square feet. NASA recently unveiled the new 16,000 square foot Kennedy Data Center in Florida.
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