ANNEX BETWEENAnnex • February 17th, 2023
Contract Type FiledFebruary 17th, 2023The purpose of this Annex is to support Northrop Grumman's (NG or Partner) development of a 1 kilowatt Hall-effect thruster, which is anticipated to launch in 2024 on NG's Mission Extension Pod (MEP) mission. This annex supports fabrication and evaluation of NG's qualification model (QM) propellant distributors. NASA has specialized equipment to evaluate propellant distributor performance in a simulated environment. NASA will also support an integrated system test (IST) of NG's QM power processing unit with an engineering model thruster and flow controller. The IST will occur in NASA's Vacuum Facility 8, which is well suited for 1 kW Hall thruster operation. Finally, NASA will support NG's evaluation of their 1 kilowatt Hall-effect thruster using an alternative propellant of interest for future missions. These activities are consistent with NASA s mission because development and commercialization of the technology at issue may facilitate future small spacecraft capabilities and support