Northrop Grumman signs NASA to design space station for low earth orbit

Northrop Grumman has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA under the Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development program for $125.6 million to design a safe, reliable and cost-effective commercial free-flying space station in low Earth orbit (LEO). Northrop Grumman's commercial space station design will use current flight systems and advanced crew-focused technology under development that allows for rapid deployment with modular expansion to meet the growing needs of the space economy.

"Under this agreement, the Northrop Grumman team will deliver a free flying space station design that is focused on commercial operations to meet the demands of an expanding LEO market," said Steve Krein, vice president, civil and commercial space, Northrop Grumman. "Our station will enable a smooth transition from International Space Station-based LEO missions to sustainable commercial-based missions where NASA does not bear all the costs, but serves as one of many customers."

This Space Act Agreement will enable Northrop Grumman to provide a detailed commercialization, operations and capabilities plan as well as space station requirements, mission success criteria, risk assessments, key technical and market analysis requirements, and preliminary design activities.

To support this effort, Northrop Grumman is building a team with unique capabilities and expertise, which includes Dynetics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Leidos, with other partners to be announced in the coming months.

Building on Northrop Grumman's commercial spacecraft experience with the Cygnus spacecraft and the Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) as well as the in-production Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), Northrop Grumman's design utilizes an overlapping stage approach that minimizes initial costs, provides revenue to offset subsequent development, and allows later capabilities to be added according to market needs.

The station will have the ability to support four permanent crewmembers initially, with plans to expand to an eight-person crew and further capability beyond that. The station is designed for a permanent presence of 15 years.

Northrop Grumman's design, using flight-proven elements, provides the base modules for commercial capabilities including science, tourism and manufacturing. Multiple docking ports will allow future expansion to support exploration crew analog habitats, laboratories, crew airlocks and facilities capable of artificial gravity.

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NASA awards $415 mn to fund three commercial space stations
Washington (AFP) Dec 2, 2021
NASA on Thursday awarded three companies hundreds of millions of dollars to develop commercial space stations it hopes will eventually replace the International Space Station, which is due to retire around the end of the decade. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, aerospace company Nanoracks, and defense contractor Northrop Grumman won $130 million, $160 million and $125.6 million contracts respectively to develop their orbital outposts. A fourth company, Axiom Space, was previously awarded a $140 million ... read more