Northrop Grumman is a prominent American multinational aerospace and defense company deeply involved in the space industry. As a space technology and launch systems provider, they manufacture spacecraft, satellites, and precision sensors. They are a major partner with NASA, providing cargo delivery to the International Space Station (ISS) through their Cygnus spacecraft and contributing to projects like the James Webb Space Telescope. Northrop Grumman is also involved in developing advanced autonomous systems for military and commercial applications.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL spacecraft launched with more than 11,000 pounds of cargo on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
NASA is sending more science, technology demonstrations, and crew supplies to the International Space Station after the Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23 mission.
In mid-1977 Grumman engineers attempted to roll form a graphite/polyethersulfone laminate using aluminum beam tooling and experienced destructive results.
Grumman Aerospace proposed an automated aluminum alloy beam-building machine and received NASA funding for initial work including a ground test unit to demonstrate automatic beam construction.
A Grumman engineer assessed that composite materials offered superior performance to aluminum and could last up to 40 years in orbit, pending further testing and flight qualification.
Grumman studied modifying its aluminum beam builder tooling in mid-1977 to form composite beams and initially attempted to roll form a graphite/polyethersulfone laminate using existing tooling.
Grumman studied composite materials while completing development of its aluminum beam builder and evaluated how to modify the machine to produce composite beams.
Grumman Aerospace proposed an aluminum beam builder to automatically construct large space structures and received NASA funding for initial work including a ground test unit.
A Grumman engineer assessed that composite materials offered superior performance to aluminum and could last up to 40 years in orbit, subject to further testing and flight qualification.
Grumman built a ground demonstration Beam Builder unit that was delivered to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama in 1978 for testing.
The Grumman Beam Builder ground demonstration unit measured 4.26 by 3.35 by 2.74 meters (14 by 11 by 9 feet) and weighed 9,979 kilograms (22,000 pounds).
Grumman delivered a ground demonstration unit of the Beam Builder to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama in 1978 for testing.
Grumman’s ground demonstration unit manufactured 1.5-meter-long aluminum bays and built beams composed of 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12 bays during testing.
The flight version of the Grumman Beam Builder was intended to be considerably lighter and to use flight-qualified, higher-reliability parts instead of off-the-shelf components.
The Grumman Beam Builder was designed to be carried in the Space Shuttle payload bay and fabricate triangular truss beams of aluminum alloy up to 300 meters (984 feet) long.
Grumman’s ground demonstration Beam Builder manufactured 1.5-meter-long bays and produced beams composed of 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12 bays during testing.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. received a $222.5 million life extension contract for DSP in June 2020.
Northrop Grumman nearly doubled its satellite manufacturing facility in Gilbert, Arizona to meet the demand for ESPA orders.
NROL-126, launched on 2024-11-30, was the fifth launch of the NRO’s proliferated architecture of imaging satellites built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman.
Northrop Grumman described its efforts to make the Mars Ascent Vehicle smaller at the ASCEND conference.