$4,430,784,857
to NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION
FIRST DDT AND E, ARES I-X, AND FLIGHT TESTS. FIRST STAGE WILL BE A FIVE SEGMENT, SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER DERIVED FROM THE SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM (SSP) SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER (SRB)/REUSABLE SOLID ROCKET MOTOR (RSRM). THE CONTRACTOR SHALL FURNISH THE NECESSARY MANAGEMENT, ENGINEERING, LABOR, FACILITIES, TOOLS, EQUIPMENT, AND MATERIALS REQUIRED FOR FIRST STAGE DEVELOPMENT, QUALIFICATION, CERTIFICATION AND ACCEPTANCE PROGRAM. ACTIVITIES INCLUDE: REDESIGN AND TESTING OF THE MOTOR TO INCORPORATE THE FIFTH SEGMENT AND PRODUCTION OF FIVE FULL SCALE GROUND STATIC TEST MOTORS: TWO DEVELOPMENT MOTORS (DMS)-AND THREE QUALIFICATION MOTORS (QMS); STRUCTURAL TEST ARTICLE (STA), GROUND VIBRATION TEST MOTORS (GVTMS) AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT TESTING; REDESIGN OF THE AVIONICS, DECELERATION, SEPARATION, AND FLIGHT TERMINATION SYSTEM (FTS) SUBSYSTEMS; ARES I-X: SIMULATED ARES I OUTER MOLD LINE/MASS PROPERTIES USING MODIFIED SRB/RSRM; AND THREE FLIGHT TEST VEHICLES. TAS::80 0124::TAS
Verbatim from USAspending.gov. Capitalization, abbreviations, and codes are unchanged.
What the model surfaced from this award
Latest obligation on the 2006 Ares I-X first-stage rocket motor development and flight test program, now nearing completion in 2026.
Ares I-X was NASA's test vehicle for next-generation crewed spaceflight; this 20-year effort validated five-segment solid rocket booster design and flight readiness before program transition.
Northrop Grumman's solid rocket motor expertise and manufacturing capacity remain critical to U.S. launch vehicle supply chain; completion of this qualification phase enables transition to operational production.
U.S. heavy-lift and crewed launch capability development; sustained investment in domestic rocket motor technology counters reliance on foreign launch providers.
Generated by award_classification v2.1.0 via claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on 2026-05-17. Cost: $0.003426.
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- Award record ingested from usaspending. Source identifier CONT_AWD_NNM07AA75C_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-.
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