Northrop Grumman tapped by NASA to develop Solar Electric Propulsion Flight Concepts for future space missions

Northrop Grumman Corporation was recently awarded a contract to study high-power solar electric propulsion flight system technology for NASA deep space and human exploration missions. The company is partnered with Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Michigan's Department of Aerospace Engineering to create a technology road map for near-term NASA space missions. NASA's goal is to develop a high-power solar electric propulsion system for a "space tugboat" that can ferry satellites from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO), saving fuel and secondary booster costs. The availability of a solar-powered vehicle would make it possible to launch spacecraft to LEO, then ferry them to GEO, allowing much heavier payloads to reach GEO while still using existing launch vehicles. The study is designed to develop mission concepts that will be using technology at NASA Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 or greater, which means that a basic prototype has been validated in a relevant environment (simulating space) and includes initial integration at some level with other operational systems.