Darwin McDaniel
Officials from Northrop Grumman have confirmed that work is set to begin in April at Kennedy Space Center for the development of the company’s ground support infrastructure, Florida Today reported Tuesday.
The announcement comes after the project received nearly $800M in funding from the U.S. Air Force.
“The first thing you’re going to see is mobile launch platform number three roll out to the west park site,” Mike Laidley, a vice president at Northrop Grumman, told Florida Today. “We’re going to buy a big Omega banner and hang it off the side of the mobile launch platform. It’s time to start cutting metal.”
The company will use the same infrastructure and facilities at KSC that support NASA’s upcoming Space Launch System, including the space center’s Vehicle Assembly Building for construction and the pad 39B for future launch.
Omega is designed to support national security missions, such as military communications satellites and GPS constellation.
“This rocket was not designed to go to Mars, it was not designed to go to the moon,” said Kent Rominger, vice president of strategic programs at Northrop Grumman. “We’re committed to national security.”
Northrop aims to conduct Omega’s first launch by 2021.
