Technologies

Northrop Grumman has been advancing propulsion technology since 1958. Our earliest work involved cold gas, heated gas, and liquid bipropellant and monopropellant rockets and boosters; we continue to further these technologies today. For example, Northrop Grumman was selected in May 2001 by NASA to be one of the developers of new propulsion technology for potential use on next-generation launch and space transportation vehicles.

We have been developing electric propulsion since the 1970s and have made recent world-class advances in gel propellant propulsion, and micropropulsion ('rockets on a chip').

Our fundamental research and development has been applied to a range of flight hardware for a wide range of space missions. Northrop Grumman is distinguished in the propulsion community for our unique coaxial pintle injector technology, the basis for many of our bipropellant engine designs, including the deep-throttling, man-rated Apollo Lunar Module Descent Engine (LMDE) that landed 12 astronauts on the moon. Recent flight successes of propulsion systems have included NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Army's gel-powered FMTI missile, and a SCAT-powered spacecraft.

Northrop Grumman has been advancing propulsion technology since 1958. Our earliest work involved cold gas, heated gas, and liquid bipropellant and monopropellant rockets and boosters; we continue to further these technologies today.