GILBERT, AZ—Northrop Grumman has completed expansion of its satellite assembly plant here to help meet growing demand for spacecraft.

The expansion adds 120,000 square feet to the 135,000-square-foot facility. Roughly 850 people now work at the factory, and hundreds more will join them over an unspecified timetable.

“We have manufactured over 100 spacecraft for NASA science programs, commercial communications and national-security missions since we opened this facility in 2004,” says Cyrus Dhalla, vice president and general manager of the company’s tactical space systems division. “This new expansion will help us meet the increasing demand from these customers.”

Programs currently in production at the facility include earth-observation satellites for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Some of those satellites track agricultural use and forest expanses, while others measure glaciers and sea ice. The factory also will be home to integration and testing of the Habitation and Logistics Outpost. HALO is the first module of NASA’s Lunar Gateway that will serve as a space station orbiting the moon, providing support for long-term human exploration of the moon and deep space.