NASA Taps Northrop Grumman to Define Space Exploration Architecture

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Sept. 8, 2004/Satnews Daily/ — NASA has selected Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) to help define the architecture of space transportation systems that will allow astronauts to travel initially to the moon, and later to Mars and beyond during the next few decades.

As part of a $6 million concept exploration and refinement (CE&R) contract awarded by NASA's Office of Exploration Systems, Northrop Grumman will help NASA define the "system of systems'' architecture for Project Constellation, a constellation of human and robotic space transportation systems, launch vehicles, and related in-space and lunar infrastructure required to ferry astronauts to and from the moon and Mars.

The contract, which includes approximately $3 million for a six-month base period and an option worth approximately $3 million, also includes development of an initial concept for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), the first space transportation system planned for Project Constellation's system-of-systems architecture.

According to Doug Young, Northrop Grumman's lead executive for Project Constellation, the study contract will involve an unusually large amount of collaboration -- as much as two days per week -- among NASA, Northrop Grumman, and other aerospace contractors who have been awarded CE&R study contracts.

"We'll be working closely with our aerospace industry colleagues to flesh out a basic 'community view' of the Project Constellation architecture, with an emphasis on the portion of the architecture that defines and sets requirements for the transportation of humans to and from the moon,'' explained Young. "This 'big picture' view of the architecture will also help define the basic functional role of the CEV within the Project Constellation architecture.'' NASA and the contractor teams will then use that consensus view of the CEV's functional role, he added, to derive the vehicle's basic operational requirements.

“The challenge here is to define a system-of-systems architecture that's technically achievable and economically feasible well into the future,'' he explained. "We're not just defining a single-point-in-time solution, but rather a concept that has to survive and successfully evolve through many political, economic and technological cycles.''  

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