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.
NASA awarded CRS-2 contracts in January 2016 to Orbital ATK, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), and SpaceX.
Northrop Grumman (which acquired Orbital ATK in 2018) operates Cygnus spacecraft under NASA cargo resupply programs to deliver supplies and experiments to the ISS and to return or dispose of cargo.
Northrop Grumman tested a late-load capability on the NG-11 mission in April that allows up to 20% of mission cargo to be placed on Cygnus 24 hours before launch.
Northrop Grumman had produced OmegA flight hardware and was conducting development tests in late 2019.
As of July 2019, Northrop Grumman had not selected a specific Vandenberg launch complex for OmegA.
Northrop Grumman planned to analyze data from the 2019-05-30 test further to determine whether manufacturing, design, or ground-test conditions contributed to the exit cone issue.
Northrop Grumman postponed the OmegA second-stage static fire test from August 2019 into early 2020 to provide time to incorporate lessons learned from the first-stage test.
Northrop Grumman acquired Orbital ATK in June 2018.
Eutelsat is investigating the impact of the power problem on Eutelsat 5 West B, a Northrop Grumman-built spacecraft intended to replace the 17-year-old Eutelsat 5 West A over Europe and Northern Africa.
Jon Goff previously served as lead propulsion engineer for Masten Space Systems when it won the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge in 2009.
On 2019-10-22, Jeff Bezos presented a plan for Blue Origin to work with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper on a lunar lander proposal for NASA’s Human Landing Services competition.
Made In Space announced plans on 2019-10-21 to send a plastic recycling facility to the International Space Station on a Northrop Grumman commercial cargo resupply flight scheduled for early November.
NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program awarded contracts to SpaceX and Northrop Grumman to provide commercial resupply services to the International Space Station.
Stratolaunch will use Pegasus XL rockets from Northrop Grumman with the ability to launch as many as three Pegasus XL rockets on a single flight.
Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems modified electronics in the Pegasus rocket and made a feedback circuit more robust to environmental flight conditions after detecting rudder position indicator noise spikes at altitude, and tested those fixes on several captive carry flights.
Eutelsat-5 West B has a mass of 2,860 kg and uses a Northrop Grumman GEOStar-2 platform with an all Ku-band payload from Airbus Defence and Space.
Mission Extension Vehicles (MEVs) are designed to last at least 15 years, enabling Northrop Grumman to use them to extend the lives of multiple spacecraft.
Northrop Grumman has a contract with Intelsat to extend the life of the 18-year-old Intelsat-901 satellite for five years using MEV-1.
MEV-1 is dual-manifested on the Proton with the Northrop-built Eutelsat 5 West B communications satellite.
The Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV)-1 was developed by SpaceLogistics, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.