Ramona Adams
Northrop Grumman seeks to introduce its reusable unmanned spaceplane prototype to the commercial satellite launch market even as the company works on its design for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Experimental Spaceplane-1 program, Flightglobal reported Thursday.
James Drew writes that Doug Young, vice president of space systems resiliency at Northrop, told Flightglobal the company plans to continue developing its XS-1 concept even if DARPA does not choose it for the program’s $140 million demonstration phase.
Young added the company sees a need for the technology in government and commercial launch markets, Drew wrote.
“If a responsive system can be built and start to fly with some flight rate for the commercial market, then DOD can come in and buy launches,” Young told Flightglobal.
Northrop, Boeing and Masten Space Systems were awarded contracts for XS-1’s first phase in August 2015.
DARPA will hold a proposers’ day on April 29 for the second phase of the program, ExecutiveBiz reported April Monday.
