Business Buzz

Dates to remember

Friday, July 3

Pasadena’s Strawberry Festival will be held July 3-5 at the Pasadena Fairgrounds, 7902 Fairmont Parkway, featuring Glen Templeton, Derryl Perry and Rick Trevino. Noon to midnight July 3, 10 a.m. to midnight July 4 and 10-5 on July 5.

Thursday, July 16

Bay Area Welcome Neighbor Club will meet at Bay Oaks Country Club at 10 a.m. to hear vocalist Brenda Guy singing old favorites and songs of the season. Wear your red, white and blue to celebrate patriotism. For luncheon reservations email membership. bawnc@gmail.com or call R. Richey at 832-607-9949.

Wednesday, July 22

Bay Area Houston Magazine will present the Best of the Bay Awards at 6:30 p.m. at Water’s Edge on NASA Parkway in El Lago. For reservations, call 281-474-5875.

Wednesday, Aug. 5

The Clear Lake Area Chamber will host the virtual New Teachers Luncheon at 11 a.m. in South Shore Harbour Resort’s Crystal Ballroom in League City. For reservations, call the chamber, 281-488-7676.

Friday, Aug. 14

Houston Symphony League Bay Area will host its annual Wine & Cheese Party for new members at St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in Nassau Bay.

Saturday, Aug. 22

Nassau Bay will celebrate its 50 th anniversary as a city.

Wednesday, Aug. 26

The League City Regional Chamber will hold its State of Education Luncheon at the Johnnie Arolfo Civic Center, 400 W. Walker in League City from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. For information, call the chamber, 281-338-7339.

Wednesday, Sept 23

The Athena Award Luncheon will be held at 11:30 a.m. at Lakewood Yacht Club in Seabrook. For reservations, contact the League City Chamber, 281-338-7339.

Friday, Oct. 2

The 58 th annual Clear Lake Chamber Chairman’s Ball will be held from 6:30 to 11 p.m. in the Crystal Ballroom at South Shore Harbour Resort. Tickets are $100 each. Call the chamber, 281-488-7676.

Saturday, Nov. 7 Clear Creek Education Foundation will host its annual gala at 6 p.m. in the South Shore Harbour Resort’s Crystal Ballroom.

Saturday, Nov. 14

Bay Oaks Country Club Women’s Association will host its annual gala, “A Black and White Affair,” at 6:15 p.m. at the country club in Clear Lake with music by the Main Street Variety Band. Black tie optional.

Friday, Nov. 20

The annual RNASA Space Gala honoring former JSC Director Dr. Ellen Ochoa will be held at 6 p.m. at the Downtown Houston Hyatt Regency Hotel. For reservations, visit the website, www.rnasa.org NASA awards Northrop Grumman contract for Gate way cre w cabin

NASA has finalized the contract for the initial crew module of the agency’s Gateway lunar orbiting outpost.

Orbital Science Corp. of Dulles, Va., a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Space, has been awarded $187 million to design the habitation and logistics outpost (HALO) for the Gateway, which is part of NASA’s Artemis program and will help the agency build a sustainable presence at the Moon. This award funds HALO’s design through its preliminary design review, expected by the end of 2020.

“This contract award is another significant milestone in our plan to build robust and sustainable lunar operations,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “The Gateway is a key component of NASA’s long-term Artemis architecture and the HALO capability furthers our plans for human exploration at the Moon in preparation for future human missions to Mars.”

The HALO will be the pressurized living quarters where astronauts will spend their time while visiting the Gateway. About the size of a small studio apartment, it will provide augmented life support in tandem with NASA’s Orion spacecraft.

The preliminary design review is one of a Improving the Houston Ship Channel

Since 2010, the Port of Houston

Authority has been planning the next major channel improvements working with Congress and the Corps of Engineers. During that time, the growth in the size of vessels increasingly needing to transit the waterway along with the growth in the exports, imports, domestic manufacturing and energy products are creating significant demand and pressure on the Houston Ship Channel and regional infrastructure, and driving the need to make improvements to this nationally significant waterway.

The success of this waterway is the result of a legacy of leadership and commitment in supporting and funding channel improvements over time. Through a tradition of collaboration and investment, the Houston Ship Channel has become the nation’s most active waterway, with more vessel traffic than the next three largest U.S. ports combined – Los Angeles, Long Beach, and New York/ New Jersey.

Expanding the Houston Ship Channel is critical to safely and efficiently sustaining national energy security, domestic manufacturing growth, thriving U.S. exports, and expanding job opportunities. series of checkpoints in the design life cycle of a complex engineering project before hardware manufacturing can begin. As the review process progresses, details of the vehicle’s design are assessed to ensure the overall system is safe and reliable for flight and meets all NASA mission requirements.

This cost plus incentive fee contract allows Northrop Grumman to finalize the design of all systems and subsystems. It also provides for the company to award initial subcontracts for long-lead hardware elements. A second contract action is expected to be definitized by the end of the year for Northrop Grumman to fabricate and assemble HALO for integration with the Gateway’s power and propulsion element (PPE) by the end of 2023.

Peninsula Road project completed

The $12.7 million Peninsula Road construction project near Port Houston’s Jacintoport and CARE Terminals has been completed. The two-way road was widened to accommodate three lanes inbound and one lane outbound.

The project was completed by Harris County Precinct 2 in partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation and Port Houston, and is expected to bring $123

million in benefits to the region. the country, connecting the nation’s largest petrochemical complex to the globe. The waterway has more deep-draft ship visits than any other port in the country, and nearly 200,000 barge transits every year as well. As energy and manufacturing exports increase and vessel sizes grow, improving the channel is nationally important.

That national economic impact is significant: the Port of Houston drives $802 billion in annual national economic value, sustains more than three million U.S. jobs, and is the nation’s number one port in foreign waterborne tonnage.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

As the local sponsor of this crucial federal waterway, Port Houston is partnering with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as private industry on a plan to expand the channel at an accelerated pace.

The Houston Ship Channel expansion – Project 11 – will widen the channel by 170 feet along its Galveston Bay reach, from 530 feet to 700 feet. It will also deepen upstream segments to 45 feet, make other safety and efficiency improvements, and craft new environmental features.

“With the help of our partners, we aim to begin this work as early as 2021, making the channel safer and more efficient and ensuring this waterway will continue to remain the national economic treasure it is today,” a Port spokesman said.

“The time to act is now!” he added.