[12-12-07 – Satellite Today] Northrop Grumman Corp. received a contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop and demonstrate technologies for a future reusable launch vehicle, Northrop Grumman announced Dec. 10.
    The contract, valued $5.2 million, will support the Lab’s Future Responsive Access to Space Technologies (FAST) program, an initiative aimed at helping mature the technologies required for future launch vehicles that could place payloads into orbit within hours of identifying new mission requirements. The contract runs for 39 months.
    Northrop Grumman will conduct experiments and simulations to validate the activities of a future operations control center and ground activities required for responsive space operations. The ground experiments will focus on flight operations, mission operations, command and control, vehicle processing, and vehicle ground maintenance.
    Northrop Grumman also was awarded a contract Dec. 3 to develop reusable launch systems for the same program.