Northrop Grumman completed critical design analysis of the Space Agency’s communications satellite in 13 months, much shorter than the time required for traditional space programs.

“It’s a paradigm shift that programs have these capabilities,” he said. SpaceNews Blake Bullock, vice president of communications systems business unit, Northrop Grumman. “For a more standard military communications satellite program, you usually need several years to get a critical review of the project.”

Northrop Grumman, L3Harris and York Space Systems have won SDA contracts in early 2022 to deliver 42 satellites by 2024 for Transport Tier 1, a global communications network in low Earth orbit of the Space Development Agency. In addition, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris each provide SDA with 14 missile tracking satellites. Northrop Grumman is also responsible for providing the ground system for tracking and transporting constellations.

Northrop Grumman relies on its own experience and that of industry partners to solve the task of creating 58 satellites in less than three years. Airbus US Space&Defense provides Northrop Grumman with optical terminals for 42 buses for Tranche 1 communications satellites, and Mynaric for 14 Tranche 1 missile tracking satellites.

“Partnerships are an important part of why we can move forward at a different pace,” Bullock said.

Louis Chirsten, director of Northrop Grumman’s Augmented Space Operations Unit, added: “We’ve been in laser communications for decades and have tremendous capabilities, but Mynaric occupies a niche in this high-performance, low-cost target range.”

With the goal of rapidly producing satellites for SDA, Chirsten said, “it streamlined processes, allowed us to move forward by finding the right balance of verification and the right design rigor.”