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98-540: The Center for Women in Technology Scholars Program is a merit scholarship opportunity for talented undergraduates majoring in computer science, computer engineering, information systems or a related program. It is open to high school seniors planning to major in one of these areas of study. Scholars in the program receive mentoring from university faculty and IT professionals as well as participate in specially designed activities and events. CWIT and

196-494: A Herndon mailing address ), works on "the entire life cycle of civil and defense platforms and capabilities through a range of services". Vinnell , a Northrop Grumman subsidiary, provides training and communications for the military. In 2003, it landed a $ 48 million contract to train the Iraqi Army . In 2005, the company won a $ 2 billion contract with Virginia to overhaul most of the state's IT operations. Later that year,

294-484: A dewar with an extremely cold substance, such as liquid helium . The coolant will slowly vaporize, limiting the lifetime of the instrument from as short as a few months to a few years at most. It is also possible to maintain a low temperature by designing the spacecraft to enable near-infrared observations without a supply of coolant, as with the extended missions of the Spitzer Space Telescope and

392-400: A "new sky" for astronomers. However, there is a challenge involved in the design of infrared telescopes: they need to stay extremely cold, and the longer the wavelength of infrared, the colder they need to be. If not, the background heat of the device itself overwhelms the detectors, making it effectively blind. This can be overcome by careful design. One method is to put the key instruments in

490-579: A 6.5-meter-diameter (21 ft) mirror, compared with Hubble's 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in). This gives Webb a light-collecting area of about 25 m (270 sq ft), about six times that of Hubble. Unlike Hubble, which observes in the near ultraviolet and visible (0.1 to 0.8  μm ), and near infrared (0.8–2.5 μm) spectra, Webb observes a lower frequency range, from long-wavelength visible light (red) through mid-infrared (0.6–28.5 μm). The telescope must be kept extremely cold, below 50 K (−223 °C; −370 °F), so that

588-586: A core NASA activity. In 2003, NASA awarded TRW the US$ 824.8 million prime contract for Webb. The design called for a de-scoped 6.1 m (20 ft) primary mirror and a launch date of 2010. Later that year, TRW was acquired by Northrop Grumman in a hostile bid and became Northrop Grumman Space Technology. Development was managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with John C. Mather as its project scientist. The primary contractor

686-476: A fully baffled 4 m (13 ft) aperture infrared telescope that would recede to an orbit at 3 Astronomical unit (AU). This distant orbit would have benefited from reduced light noise from zodiacal dust . Other early plans called for a NEXUS precursor telescope mission. Correcting the flawed optics of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in its first years played a significant role in

784-401: A joint venture, which grew "from $ 100 million in revenue in 2000 to approximately $ 500 million in fiscal year 2007." In 2000, NG acquired Federal Data Corporation, Navia Aviation As, Comptek Research, Inc., and Sterling Software, Inc. In 2001, the company acquired Litton Industries , a shipbuilder and defense electronics systems provider for the U.S. Navy . During the acquisition process,

882-584: A mass of 350 kg (770 lb), and must support the 6,200 kg (13,700 lb) space telescope. It is made primarily of graphite composite material. The assembly was completed in California in 2015. It was integrated with the rest of the space telescope leading to its 2021 launch. The spacecraft bus can rotate the telescope with a pointing precision of one arcsecond , and isolates vibration to two milliarcseconds. Webb has two pairs of rocket engines (one pair for redundancy) to make course corrections on

980-715: A new intercontinental ballistic missile . As of the end of 2022, Northrop Grumman organized its business around four main sectors, each of which comprises two or more business areas: Aeronautics Systems, headquartered in Redondo Beach, California , at the historic Space Park , produces aircraft, spacecraft, high-energy laser systems and microelectronics for the U.S. and other nations. This includes surveillance and reconnaissance, protected communications, intelligence, battle management, strike operations, electronic warfare, to missile defense, Earth observation, space science and space exploration. The B-2 Spirit strategic bomber,

1078-519: A new Delaware holding company, NNG, Inc. , was formed, which merged with Northrop Grumman through a one-for-one common shares exchange in April 2001. Both Northrop Grumman and Litton became subsidiaries of the new holding company. The original Northrop Grumman Corporation then changed its name to "Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation"; the holding company, NNG, Inc., changed its name to "Northrop Grumman Corporation". Later that year, Newport News Shipbuilding

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1176-649: A process called the Independent Comprehensive Review Panel, which led to a re-plan of the mission aiming for a 2015 launch, but as late as 2018. By 2010, cost over-runs were impacting other projects, though Webb itself remained on schedule. By 2011, the Webb project was in the final design and fabrication phase (Phase C). Assembly of the hexagonal segments of the primary mirror, which was done via robotic arm, began in November 2015 and

1274-750: A solar orbit near the Sun–Earth L 2 Lagrange point , about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 mi) from Earth. The telescope's first image was released to the public on 11 July 2022. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) led Webb's design and development and partnered with two main agencies: the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland managed telescope development, while

1372-573: A very thin layer of glass on top was first looked at, but beryllium was selected at the end. The mid-1990s era of "faster, better, cheaper" produced the NGST concept, with an 8 m (26 ft) aperture to be flown to L 2 , roughly estimated to cost US$ 500 million. In 1997, NASA worked with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Ball Aerospace & Technologies , and TRW to conduct technical requirement and cost studies of

1470-416: A wide field. The secondary mirror is 0.74 m (2.4 ft) in diameter. In addition, there is a fine steering mirror which can adjust its position many times per second to provide image stabilization . Point light sources in images taken by Webb have six diffraction spikes plus two fainter ones, due to the hexagonal shape of the primary mirror segments. The Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM)

1568-510: Is a framework that provides electrical power, computing resources, cooling capability as well as structural stability to the Webb telescope. It is made with bonded graphite-epoxy composite attached to the underside of Webb's telescope structure. The ISIM holds the four science instruments and a guide camera. NIRCam and MIRI feature starlight-blocking coronagraphs for observation of faint targets such as extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks very close to bright stars. The spacecraft bus

1666-457: Is designed primarily for near-infrared astronomy , but can also see orange and red visible light, as well as the mid-infrared region, depending on the instrument being used. It can detect objects up to 100 times fainter than Hubble can, and objects much earlier in the history of the universe , back to redshift z≈20 (about 180 million years cosmic time after the Big Bang ). For comparison,

1764-489: Is designed to cool itself without a dewar, using a combination of sunshields and radiators, with the mid-infrared instrument using an additional cryocooler. Webb's delays and cost increases have been compared to those of its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope . When Hubble formally started in 1972, it had an estimated development cost of US$ 300 million (equivalent to $ 2,185,203,000 in 2023), but by

1862-787: Is forecasted to enter test flights as early as late 2023, with the United States Air Force forecasted to acquire operational aircraft as early as 2030. It was reported in October 2023 that taxi tests for the B-21 Raider were underway. In May 2024, Northrop Grumman unveiled the Manta Ray, an underwater drone developed for the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA). The drone, which resembles its namesake sea creature,

1960-423: Is obscured by the secondary support struts, giving a total collecting area of 25.4 m (273 sq ft). This is over six times larger than the collecting area of Hubble's 2.4 m (7.9 ft) diameter mirror, which has a collecting area of 4.0 m (43 sq ft). The mirror has a gold coating to provide infrared reflectivity and this is covered by a thin layer of glass for durability. Webb

2058-576: Is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military technology providers. The firm ranked No. 101 on the 2022 Fortune 500 list of America's largest corporations. Northrop Grumman and its industry partners have won the Collier Trophy nine times, most recently for the development and production of the James Webb Space Telescope , an orbiting observatory launched in 2021. Northrop Grumman leads

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2156-564: Is opaque in many infrared bands (see figure at right). Even where the atmosphere is transparent, many of the target chemical compounds, such as water, carbon dioxide, and methane, also exist in the Earth's atmosphere, vastly complicating analysis. Existing space telescopes such as Hubble cannot study these bands since their mirrors are insufficiently cool (the Hubble mirror is maintained at about 15 °C [288 K; 59 °F]) which means that

2254-529: Is the primary support component of the JWST, hosting a multitude of computing, communication, electric power, propulsion, and structural parts. Along with the sunshield, it forms the spacecraft element of the space telescope . The spacecraft bus is on the Sun-facing "warm" side of the sunshield and operates at a temperature of about 300 K (27 °C; 80 °F). The structure of the spacecraft bus has

2352-418: Is therefore composed of 18 hexagonal segments (a technique pioneered by Guido Horn d'Arturo ), which unfolded after the telescope was launched. Image plane wavefront sensing through phase retrieval is used to position the mirror segments in the correct location using precise actuators . Subsequent to this initial configuration, they only need occasional updates every few days to retain optimal focus. This

2450-586: Is unlike terrestrial telescopes, for example the Keck telescopes , which continually adjust their mirror segments using active optics to overcome the effects of gravitational and wind loading. The Webb telescope uses 132 small actuation motors to position and adjust the optics. The actuators can position the mirror with 10  nanometer accuracy. Webb's optical design is a three-mirror anastigmat , which makes use of curved secondary and tertiary mirrors to deliver images that are free from optical aberrations over

2548-1056: The B-1 Lancer . Mission Systems produces and maintains the AWACS aerial surveillance systems for the U.S., the United Kingdom , NATO, Japan, and others. Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for the development and integration of the Air Force's $ 2-billion Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program . Northrop Grumman also supports the U.S. ballistic missile program, integrates various command, control and intelligence systems, and provides technical and management services, to governmental and military customers, all with an emphasis on cybersecurity. Many other smaller products are made by Northrop Grumman, such as night vision goggles and secure communications equipment. The Defense Systems sector, headquartered in McLean, Virginia (with

2646-540: The Cygnus spacecraft. Until 2020 the firm was developing the OmegA space launch vehicle, intended to carry the U.S. government's national security satellites into space. With Northrop Grumman's reorganization of its divisions effective January 1, 2020, NGIS was split, with most of the sector merging with other Northrop Grumman businesses into a new Space Systems sector. On August 8, 2022, Northrop Grumman announced it

2744-770: The E-8C Joint STARS surveillance aircraft , the RQ-4 Global Hawk , and the T-38 Talon supersonic trainer are used by the US Air Force . The US Army uses Northrop Grumman's RQ-5 Hunter unmanned air vehicle, which has been in operational use since 1995. The U.S. Navy uses Northrop Grumman-built aerial vehicles such as the BQM-74 Chukar , RQ-4 Global Hawk-based MQ-4C Triton , MQ-8 Fire Scout , Grumman C-2 Greyhound , Grumman E-2 Hawkeye , and

2842-1054: The EA-6B Prowler . Northrop Grumman provides major components and assemblies for different aircraft, such as the F/A-18 Hornet , the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet , the EA-18G Growler , and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II . Aerospace systems also serves as the contractor for numerous space payloads and is the prime contractor for the James Webb Space Telescope . Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, headquartered in Linthicum, Maryland , creates military radar, sensors, and related products, including C4I radar systems for air defense , Airspace Management radar systems such as AMASS , and battlefield surveillance systems like

2940-490: The ECMAScript standard and "allows for a modular design flow, where on-board scripts call lower-level scripts that are defined as functions". "The JWST science operations will be driven by ASCII (instead of binary command blocks) on-board scripts, written in a customized version of JavaScript. The script interpreter is run by the flight software, which is written in the programming language C++ . The flight software operates

3038-442: The Hubble Space Telescope . This enables investigations across many fields of astronomy and cosmology , such as observation of the first stars and the formation of the first galaxies , and detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets . Although the Webb's mirror diameter is 2.7 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, it produces images of comparable sharpness because it observes in

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3136-723: The Northrop Corporation was reincorporated in Delaware in 1985. Northrop made a series of light-weight fighter aircraft such as the F-5 , YF-17 , and F-20. However, Northrop was best known for it experimental flying wing aircraft, the XB-35 and YB-49 of the late 1940s and early 1950s. These flying wing aircraft, while unsuccessful, would pave the way for the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, on which Northrop

3234-732: The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore on the Homewood Campus of Johns Hopkins University operates Webb. The primary contractor for the project was Northrop Grumman . The telescope is named after James E. Webb , who was the administrator of NASA from 1961 to 1968 during the Mercury , Gemini , and Apollo programs. Webb's primary mirror consists of 18 hexagonal mirror segments made of gold -plated beryllium , which together create

3332-496: The United Kingdom paid $ 1.2 billion in a contract with the company to provide maintenance of its AWACS radar. On June 7, 2018, the acquisition of Orbital ATK was completed, and the former company was absorbed in Northrop Grumman as a new business sector called Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. With this acquisition, Northrop Grumman got more involved in the space industry, including the construction and launch of

3430-570: The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer , which operated at reduced capacity after coolant depletion. Another example is Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) instrument, which started out using a block of nitrogen ice that depleted after a couple of years, but was then replaced during the STS-109 servicing mission with a cryocooler that worked continuously. The Webb Space Telescope

3528-487: The earliest stars are thought to have formed between z≈30 and z≈20 (100–180 million years cosmic time), and the first galaxies may have formed around redshift z≈15 (about 270 million years cosmic time). Hubble is unable to see further back than very early reionization at about z≈11.1 (galaxy GN-z11 , 400 million years cosmic time). The design emphasizes the near to mid-infrared for several reasons: Ground-based telescopes must look through Earth's atmosphere , which

3626-602: The infrared light emitted by the telescope itself does not interfere with the collected light. Its five-layer sunshield protects it from warming by the Sun, Earth, and Moon. Initial designs for the telescope, then named the Next Generation Space Telescope, began in 1996. Two concept studies were commissioned in 1999, for a potential launch in 2007 and a US$ 1 billion budget. The program was plagued with enormous cost overruns and delays. A major redesign

3724-1256: The Airborne Reconnaissance Low (ARL). Tactical aircraft sensors include the AN/APG-68 radar, the AN/APG-80 AESA radar, and the AN/APG-83 AESA radar upgrade for the F-16 Fighting Falcon , the AN/APG-77 AESA radar for the F-22 Raptor , and the AN/APG-81 AESA radar for the F-35 Lightning II, and the AN/AAQ-37 electro-optical Distributed Aperture System (DAS) for the F-35, and the APQ-164 Passive Electronically Scanned Array (PESA) radar for

3822-775: The Antares rocket, which will be known as the Antares 330 . Northrop will provide the A330s upper stage, avionics, software and launch site operations. Firefly will supply seven engines and build the A330s largest structure, the first stage booster. Northrop and Firefly will also jointly develop the MLV. Remotec, a Tennessee-based subsidiary, is a manufacturer of remote control vehicles for explosive ordnance disposal and hazardous material handling. A UK-based subsidiary, Park Air Systems, provides VHF and UHF ground-to-air communications systems for

3920-700: The Colombian jungle. The fourth employee, Tom Janis, had been killed by the FARC shortly after the crash in 2003. In January 2008, Northrop Grumman combined its Newport News and Ship Systems sectors into a new business unit named Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. On March 31, 2011, this was spun off as Huntington Ingalls Industries , Inc. ( NYSE :  HII ). In November 2010, NASA selected Northrop Grumman for consideration of potential contract awards for heavy lift launch vehicle system concepts, and propulsion technologies. From 2013, Northrop Grumman participates in

4018-603: The DARPA Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) program, and received $ 2.9 million for Phase 1 and $ 19 million for Phase 2. The TERN program attempts to launch and recover a UAV from mid-size ships to provide long distance intelligence gathering. In July 2013, Northrop Grumman won a training-simulation contract potentially worth $ 490 million to support the U.S. Air Force 's next-generation aerial warfare virtual-training network. As of 2018, Northrop Grumman became

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4116-689: The Department of Defense and Department of Justice. That same year, it acquired Inter-National Research Institute Inc. In 1999, the company acquired Teledyne Ryan , developer of surveillance systems and unmanned aircraft, California Microwave, Inc., and the Data Procurement Corporation. On March 19, 1999, Northrop Grumman revised its fourth-quarter results to a net loss because of problems related to its dealings with start-up satellite launch company Kistler Aerospace Corp. In 1999, Northrop Grumman and SAIC created AMSEC LLC as

4214-850: The Deployable Rapid Assembly Shelter (DRASH) in New York, as part of the U.S. Army's Standard Integrated Command Post System program. Northrop Grumman can trace its lineage back to the beginning of the 20th century when the Grumman Corporation was founded on Long Island , New York. Here, Leroy R. Grumman established the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation in December 1929. By 1939, the company has expanded and relocated to Bethpage, New York. During World War II

4312-463: The Earth, allowing the telescope to remain at a roughly constant distance with continuous orientation of its sunshield and equipment bus toward the Sun , Earth and Moon . Combined with its wide shadow-avoiding orbit, the telescope can simultaneously block incoming heat and light from all three of these bodies and avoid even the smallest changes of temperature from Earth and Moon shadows that would affect

4410-564: The Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI). From 1990 to 2003, before the merger with Grumman in 1994, Kent Kresa was the CEO of the company, who led the serial-acquisition strategy with a total of 15 additional acquisitions from 1994 to 2003, including Litton , Logicon , Westinghouse 's defense electronics business, Ryan Aeronautical and Newport News Shipbuilding , and TRW. He then retired in 2003 at age 65. In 2003 Ronald Sugar ,

4508-441: The NGST received the highest ranking in the 2000 Decadal Survey. An administrator of NASA , Dan Goldin , coined the phrase " faster, better, cheaper ", and opted for the next big paradigm shift for astronomy, namely, breaking the barrier of a single mirror. That meant going from "eliminate moving parts" to "learn to live with moving parts" (i.e. segmented optics). With the goal to reduce mass density tenfold, silicon carbide with

4606-568: The OTE itself, and the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM). Cost growth revealed in spring 2005 led to an August 2005 re-planning. The primary technical outcomes of the re-planning were significant changes in the integration and test plans, a 22-month launch delay (from 2011 to 2013), and elimination of system-level testing for observatory modes at wavelengths shorter than 1.7 μm. Other major features of

4704-462: The Sun. Its actual position varies between about 250,000 and 832,000 km (155,000–517,000 mi) from L 2 as it orbits, keeping it out of both Earth and Moon's shadow. By way of comparison, Hubble orbits 550 km (340 mi) above Earth's surface, and the Moon is roughly 400,000 km (250,000 mi) from Earth. Objects near this Sun–Earth L 2 point can orbit the Sun in synchrony with

4802-568: The Sunshield review completed in January 2010. In April 2010, the telescope passed the technical portion of its Mission Critical Design Review (MCDR). Passing the MCDR signified the integrated observatory can meet all science and engineering requirements for its mission. The MCDR encompassed all previous design reviews. The project schedule underwent review during the months following the MCDR, in

4900-537: The UMBC Center for Cybersecurity jointly run the UMBC Cyber Scholars Program with the goal of preparing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. The program is funded by the Northrop Grumman Foundation. This article about a university or college in Maryland is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense company. With 95,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $ 30 billion, it

4998-487: The acquisition was approved by Orbital ATK stockholders and on June 6, 2018, the merger closed after final FTC approval. The acquired company assets and naming were absorbed and become a division named Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. In June 2020, NASA granted a $ 935 million contract to Northrop Grumman for the Lunar Gateway Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module, based on its Cygnus cargo spacecraft. In July 2022, Northrop subcontracted Solstar to provide

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5096-461: The beginning step in the process that ultimately moved the project into its detailed design phase (Phase C). By May 2007, costs were still on target. In March 2008, the project successfully completed its Preliminary Design Review (PDR). In April 2008, the project passed the Non-Advocate Review. Other passed reviews include the Integrated Science Instrument Module review in March 2009, the Optical Telescope Element review completed in October 2009, and

5194-467: The birth of Webb. In 1993, NASA conducted STS-61 , the Space Shuttle mission that replaced HST's camera and installed a retrofit for its imaging spectrograph to compensate for the spherical aberration in its primary mirror . The HST & Beyond Committee was formed in 1994 "to study possible missions and programs for optical-ultraviolet astronomy in space for the first decades of the 21st century." Emboldened by HST's success, its 1996 report explored

5292-451: The break in Antares manufacturing caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But in addition to salvaging the Antares rocket series, the cost-sharing deal also helps ensure NASA's cargo missions to the International Space Station keep flying regularly and brings muscle to Firefly's plan to build a larger rocket called Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV). Northrop Grumman and Firefly Aerospace will jointly produce an upgraded version of

5390-410: The chief recommendation of HST & Beyond for a large, cold space telescope (radiatively cooled far below 0 °C), and began the planning process for the future Webb telescope. Preparation for the 2000 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey (a literature review produced by the United States National Research Council that includes identifying research priorities and making recommendations for

5488-421: The civil and defense markets. Northrop Grumman has also worked closely with Antenna Associates, Inc., a manufacturer of Identification friend or foe (IFF)/ Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) antennas located in Massachusetts. In August 2007, Northrop Grumman acquired Scaled Composites in which it had previously owned a 40% stake. In 2008, Northrop Grumman began working with DHS Systems LLC, manufacturer of

5586-404: The company built most US Navy aircraft. After the war it branched out into making the first aluminum canoes using left-over materials no longer needed for aircraft. Later the firm created a myriad of products such as ballistic missiles , all-weather radars, the Apollo Lunar Module , land and sea-based fighter aircraft and Stealth bombers . Founded in California in 1939 by Jack Northrop ,

5684-447: The concept of a larger and much colder, infrared-sensitive telescope that could reach back in cosmic time to the birth of the first galaxies. This high-priority science goal was beyond the HST's capability because, as a warm telescope, it is blinded by infrared emission from its own optical system. In addition to recommendations to extend the HST mission to 2005 and to develop technologies for finding planets around other stars, NASA embraced

5782-403: The contract went to rival Lockheed Martin on August 31, 2006. In 2006, Northrop Grumman had intended to bid for the U.S. Air Force's Next-Generation Bomber . Though it has not built a large manned aircraft since wrapping up B-2 Spirit production in the 1990s, the company has "been working hard to turn that perception around, with the skills and capabilities that back it up." However, by 2009,

5880-477: The delicate film structure during deployment testing in 2018 led to further delays to the telescope deployment. The sunshield was designed to be folded twelve times so that it would fit within the Ariane 5 rocket's payload fairing , which is 4.57 m (15.0 ft) in diameter, and 16.19 m (53.1 ft) long. The shield's fully deployed dimensions were planned as 14.162 m × 21.197 m (46.46 ft × 69.54 ft). Keeping within

5978-447: The development of the B-21 Raider , a long-range, stealth strategic bomber that can drop conventional and nuclear weapons ; it will replace Northrop's own B-2 Spirit , the world's only known stealth bomber. Among its other projects are the production of the solid rocket boosters for NASA's Space Launch System program. It was the sole bidder on the Air Force's Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program , which aims to develop and build

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6076-458: The former chief operating officer , took over as CEO. Effective October 1, 2003, Sugar also served as the company chairman of the board. James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST ) is a space telescope designed to conduct infrared astronomy . As the largest telescope in space , it is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, allowing it to view objects too old, distant , or faint for

6174-474: The group into its Peraton subsidiary. The sale closed in February 2021. The Mars Ascent Propulsion System for Mars sample-return mission Ascent Vehicle contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman on March 5, 2021. For this Northrop Grumman to make a 3–meter long, two-stage , solid-fueled Mars ascent rocket for the Mars Sample Return mission. This mission is to collect Perseverance's samples for return to Earth. In August 2022, Northrop Grumman announced it

6272-402: The launch by an additional 10 months to March 2021, based on the assessment of the independent review board convened after the failed March 2018 test deployment. The review identified that Webb launch and deployment had 344 potential single-point failures – tasks that had no alternative or means of recovery if unsuccessful, and therefore had to succeed for the telescope to work. In August 2019,

6370-562: The launch. The CSA pledged CA$ 39 million in 2007 and in 2012 delivered its contributions in equipment to point the telescope and detect atmospheric conditions on distant planets. In January 2007, nine of the ten technology development items in the project successfully passed a Non-Advocate Review. These technologies were deemed sufficiently mature to retire significant risks in the project. The remaining technology development item (the MIRI cryocooler) completed its technology maturation milestone in April 2007. This technology review represented

6468-456: The longer-wavelength infrared spectrum. The longer the wavelength of the spectrum, the larger the information-gathering surface required (mirrors in the infrared spectrum or antenna area in the millimeter and radio ranges) for an image comparable in clarity to the visible spectrum of the Hubble Space Telescope. The Webb was launched on 25 December 2021 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou , French Guiana. In January 2022 it arrived at its destination,

6566-444: The mechanical integration of the telescope was completed, something that was scheduled to be done 12 years before in 2007. After construction was completed, Webb underwent final tests at Northrop Grumman's historic Space Park in Redondo Beach, California. A ship carrying the telescope left California on 26 September 2021, passed through the Panama Canal , and arrived in French Guiana on 12 October 2021. NASA's lifetime cost for

6664-445: The near-IR and mid-IR sensitivity to be able to observe virtually all known Kuiper Belt Objects . In addition, it can observe opportunistic and unplanned targets within 48 hours of a decision to do so, such as supernovae and gamma ray bursts . Webb operates in a halo orbit , circling around a point in space known as the Sun–Earth L 2 Lagrange point , approximately 1,500,000 km (930,000 mi) beyond Earth's orbit around

6762-420: The new company acquired substantially all of the defense and electronics systems business of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghouse Electronic Systems , a major manufacturer of radar systems, for $ 2.9 billion, and Xetron Corporation . In 1997, the defense computer contractor Logicon was added, which had acquired Geodynamics Corporation in March 1996 and Syscon Corporation in February 1995. Northrop

6860-431: The observatory were unchanged. Following the re-planning, the project was independently reviewed in April 2006. In the 2005 re-plan, the life-cycle cost of the project was estimated at US$ 4.5 billion. This comprised approximately US$ 3.5 billion for design, development, launch and commissioning, and approximately US$ 1.0 billion for ten years of operations. The ESA agreed in 2004 to contributing about €300 million, including

6958-468: The observatory, as was done for Hubble, would not be possible, and according to NASA Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen , despite best efforts, an uncrewed remote mission was found to be beyond available technology at the time Webb was designed. During the long Webb testing period, NASA officials referred to the idea of a servicing mission, but no plans were announced. Since the successful launch, NASA has stated that nevertheless limited accommodation

7056-686: The primary contractor for the James Webb Space Telescope . In October 2015, the US Military announced it had awarded Northrop Grumman the contract for the successor to the B-1 and B-52 , subsequently identified as the B-21 . The initial value is $ 21.4 billion, and could eventually be worth up to $ 80 billion. In September 2017, Northrop announced its intention to acquire missile and rocket manufacturer Orbital ATK Inc for $ 9.2 billion: $ 7.8 billion in cash plus $ 1.4 billion in net debt. On November 29, 2017,

7154-486: The shadow of the sunshield limits the field of regard of Webb at any given time. The telescope can see 40 percent of the sky from any one position, but can see all of the sky over a period of six months. Webb's primary mirror is a 6.5 m (21 ft)-diameter gold-coated beryllium reflector with a collecting area of 25.4 m (273 sq ft). If it had been designed as a single, large mirror, it would have been too large for existing launch vehicles. The mirror

7252-770: The spacecraft and the science instruments." The desire for a large infrared space telescope traces back decades. In the United States, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (later called the Spitzer Space Telescope ) was planned while the Space Shuttle was in development, and the potential for infrared astronomy was acknowledged at that time. Unlike ground telescopes, space observatories are free from atmospheric absorption of infrared light. Space observatories opened

7350-426: The structure, yet still maintain uninterrupted solar power and Earth communications on its sun-facing side. This arrangement keeps the temperature of the spacecraft constant and below the 50 K (−223 °C; −370 °F) necessary for faint infrared observations. To make observations in the infrared spectrum , Webb must be kept under 50 K (−223.2 °C; −369.7 °F); otherwise, infrared radiation from

7448-437: The structures on the dark side is critical to maintaining precise alignment of the primary mirror segments. The sunshield consists of five layers, each approximately as thin as a human hair. Each layer is made of Kapton E film, coated with aluminum on both sides. The two outermost layers have an additional coating of doped silicon on the Sun-facing sides, to better reflect the Sun's heat back into space. Accidental tears of

7546-622: The tanker program and in March 2010, Northrop Grumman announced it was withdrawing from the competition, deeming the revised requirements to be weighted in favor of the Boeing KC-46 . On January 1, 2006, Northrop Grumman opened its business sector called 'Technical Services'. Northrop Grumman and Boeing collaborated on a design concept for NASA 's upcoming Orion spacecraft (previously the Crew Exploration Vehicle), but

7644-1043: The teams working on that project were dispersed, as USAF's focus turned to a long-range strike instead. Northrop Grumman was one of two teams competing for the Long Range Strike Bomber , and in October 2015 won the contract for the Long Range Strike Bomber. On July 20, 2007, Northrop Grumman became the sole owner of Burt Rutan 's Scaled Composites . In 2007, Northrop Grumman created 'National Workforce Centers' as an alternative to offshoring . Locations are Auburn , Alabama; Corsicana , Texas; Fairmont , West Virginia; Helena , Montana; Johnstown , Pennsylvania; and Lebanon, Virginia . The Rapid City, South Dakota location closed in January 2012. In July 2008, three of four Northrop Grumman employees ( Thomas Howes , Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell ) were freed during Operation Jaque after five years of captivity following their aircraft crash in

7742-485: The telescope itself radiates strongly in the relevant infrared bands. Webb can also observe objects in the Solar System at an angle of more than 85° from the Sun and having an apparent angular rate of motion less than 0.03 arc seconds per second. This includes Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, their satellites , and comets , asteroids and minor planets at or beyond the orbit of Mars . Webb has

7840-435: The telescope itself would overwhelm its instruments. Its large sunshield blocks light and heat from the Sun, Earth, and Moon, and its position near the Sun–Earth L 2 keeps all three bodies on the same side of the spacecraft at all times. Its halo orbit around the L 2 point avoids the shadow of the Earth and Moon, maintaining a constant environment for the sunshield and solar arrays. The resulting stable temperature for

7938-479: The three different concepts, and in 1999 selected Lockheed Martin and TRW for preliminary concept studies. Launch was at that time planned for 2007, but the launch date was pushed back many times (see table further down ). In 2002, the project was renamed after NASA's second administrator (1961–1968), James E. Webb (1906–1992). Webb led the agency during the Apollo program and established scientific research as

8036-398: The time it was sent into orbit in 1990, the cost was about four times that. In addition, new instruments and servicing missions increased the cost to at least US$ 9 billion by 2006 (equivalent to $ 13,602,509,000 in 2023). Discussions of a Hubble follow-on started in the 1980s, but serious planning began in the early 1990s. The Hi-Z telescope concept was developed between 1989 and 1994:

8134-411: The upcoming decade) included further development of the scientific program for what became known as the Next Generation Space Telescope, and advancements in relevant technologies by NASA. As it matured, studying the birth of galaxies in the young universe , and searching for planets around other stars – the prime goals coalesced as "Origins" by HST & Beyond became prominent. As hoped,

8232-473: The way to L 2 and for station keeping  – maintaining the correct position in the halo orbit. Eight smaller thrusters are used for attitude control  – the correct pointing of the spacecraft. The engines use hydrazine fuel (159 liters or 42 U.S. gallons at launch) and dinitrogen tetroxide as oxidizer (79.5 liters or 21.0 U.S. gallons at launch). Webb is not intended to be serviced in space. A crewed mission to repair or upgrade

8330-438: The wings to enhance the propulsion provided by its gliding system, which glides forward while moving up and down in the water column by changing its buoyancy. With an emphasis on minimal human oversight, the creation of the Manta Ray represents a significant advancement in unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) technology. In September 2024, Northrop Grumman won the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) competition to develop and build

8428-723: The wireless-enabling technology to enable a Wi-Fi access for employees and equipment in the module. In September 2020, Northrop Grumman won a $ 298 million sole-source contract for the Evolved Strategic Satcom program, an anti-jam communications satellite program intended to replace the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite program where Northrop Grumman was a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin . In December 2020, Northrop sold its federal IT and mission support business to Veritas Capital for $ 3.4 billion in cash. Veritas placed

8526-671: The world. In 1994, Northrop Aircraft bought Grumman Aerospace , which built the Apollo Lunar Module to create Northrop Grumman (NG) at a cost of $ 2.1 billion. The company purchased the remaining 51% interest in Vought Aircraft Company (Vought) in August 1994 for $ 130 million taking full control of the company after it had purchased an initial 49% interest in September 1992 for $ 45 million. In 1996,

8624-565: Was Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, responsible for developing and building the spacecraft element, which included the satellite bus , sunshield, Deployable Tower Assembly (DTA) which connects the Optical Telescope Element to the spacecraft bus, and the Mid Boom Assembly (MBA) which helps to deploy the large sunshields on orbit, while Ball Aerospace & Technologies was subcontracted to develop and build

8722-563: Was accomplished in 2005, with construction completed in 2016, followed by years of exhaustive testing, at a total cost of US$ 10 billion. The mass of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is about half that of the Hubble Space Telescope . Webb has a 6.5 m (21 ft)-diameter gold -coated beryllium primary mirror made up of 18 separate hexagonal mirrors. The mirror has a polished area of 26.3 m (283 sq ft), of which 0.9 m (9.7 sq ft)

8820-727: Was added. On November 1, 2001, Northrop Grumman restated its third-quarter profit after halting work on two ships for American Classic Voyages , which filed for bankruptcy protection. In 2002, Northrop Grumman acquired TRW Inc. , which had acquired Braddock Dunn & McDonald (BDM) in 1997, and became the Space Technology sector based in Redondo Beach , California, and the Mission Systems sector based in Reston, Virginia , with sole interest in their space systems and laser systems manufacturing. The Aeronautical division

8918-441: Was completed on 3 February 2016. The secondary mirror was installed on 3 March 2016. Final construction of the Webb telescope was completed in November 2016, after which extensive testing procedures began. In March 2018, NASA delayed Webb's launch an additional two years to May 2020 after the telescope's sunshield ripped during a practice deployment and the sunshield's cables did not sufficiently tighten. In June 2018, NASA delayed

9016-458: Was designed to carry out long-duration, long-range military missions, including extended loitering on the sea bottom. The development of the Manta Ray posed several technical challenges, including overcoming the corrosive nature of seawater, preventing sea life from interfering with moving components, and operating under conditions where electromagnetic radiation, including sunlight, does not propagate well. The craft uses two four-bladed propellers on

9114-442: Was made to facilitate future servicing missions. These accommodations included precise guidance markers in the form of crosses on the surface of Webb, for use by remote servicing missions, as well as refillable fuel tanks, removable heat protectors, and accessible attachment points. Ilana Dashevsky and Vicki Balzano write that Webb uses a modified version of JavaScript , called Nombas ScriptEase 5.00e, for its operations; it follows

9212-446: Was moving production of the engines and structures for its Antares rockets to the U.S. from Russia and Ukraine. The move of Antares production fully to the U.S. will happen through a partnership with Texas-based Firefly Aerospace . Northrop Grumman had purchased Russian RD-181 engines to power the Antares 230+ series, and the rocket’s main body was manufactured by Ukraine’s Yuzhmash State Enterprise . Northrop Grumman's B-21 Raider

9310-447: Was moving production of the engines and structures for its Antares rockets to the U.S. from Russia and Ukraine. The move of Antares production fully to the U.S. will happen through a partnership with Texas-based Firefly Aerospace . Northrop Grumman had purchased Russian RD-181 engines to power the Antares 230+ series, and the rocket's main body was manufactured by Ukraine's Yuzhmash State Enterprise . The new arrangement mainly resolves

9408-624: Was sold to Goodrich , and the automotive divisions were spun off and retained the TRW name. There were 15 acquisitions from 1994 to 2003. Northrop Grumman partnered with EADS from the mid-2000s to offer the KC-30 Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft in the U.S. Air Force's KC-X tanker competition. In February 2008 the U.S. Air Force chose KC-30, but in September 2008 the Defense Department suspended

9506-563: Was the prime contractor on the radical YF-23 which was one of two candidates for the Advanced Tactical Fighter but would eventually lose to the F-22 Raptor . Northrop later partnered with Lockheed on the F-35 and serves as a principal member of the Lockheed Martin industry led team. In 1998, a merger between Northrop Grumman and competitor Lockheed Martin was considered but abandoned after resistance from

9604-456: Was the prime contractor. After the end of the Cold War , Northrop made a series of acquisitions, buying Grumman Aerospace , Westinghouse and TRW Inc. in addition to a number of other enterprises. In 2018, Northrop Grumman completed the purchase of Orbital ATK , which has since been renamed to Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. Northrop Grumman is one of the largest defense contractors in

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