Northrop Grumman expands Arizona satellite plant in Gilbert

Northrop Grumman on Friday marked the completion of its expanded satellite tv for pc manufacturing facility in Gilbert to assist meet rising demand for spacecraft.

The enlargement provides 120,000 sq. ft to the prior 135,000-square-foot facility close to McQueen and Elliot roads. Roughly 850 folks now work on the manufacturing facility and lots of extra will be part of them over an unspecified timetable.

“We have now manufactured and delivered over 100 spacecraft for NASA science packages, business communications and national-security missions since we opened this facility in 2004,” mentioned Cyrus Dhalla, vp and common supervisor of the corporate’s tactical area methods division. “This new enlargement will assist us meet the rising demand from these clients.”

Satellites for NASA, NOAA

Applications at the moment in manufacturing on the Gilbert facility embody earth-observation satellites for NASA and the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A few of these satellites observe agricultural use and forest expanses, whereas others measure glaciers and sea ice, mentioned Mike Witt, a Northrop Grumman vice president of sustainability, noting that the Gilbert-factory enlargement announcement was made on Earth Day. He and others did not focus on water use on the web site.

The manufacturing facility additionally might be house to integration and testing of the Habitation and Logistics Outpost. HALO is the primary module of NASA’s Lunar Gateway that may function an area station orbiting the moon, offering assist for long-term human exploration of the moon and deep area.

The Gilbert campus conducts satellite tv for pc design, engineering, manufacturing, testing and program administration, with spacecraft manufacturing completed underneath one roof.

Main authorities contractor

Virginia-based Northrop Grumman, with roughly 90,000 total workers, has operations in area, aeronautics, protection and our on-line world. The company earned a revenue of $7 billion in 2021 on $35.7 billion in income, 85% of which was generated by the federal authorities.

Dhalla referred to as the Gilbert facility probably the most superior satellite-manufacturing vegetation on the earth. Northrop Grumman additionally has Arizona services in Chandler, Tempe and Sierra Vista.

Attain the reporter at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com.

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