BALTIMORE—Northrop Grumman Corp. has opened the Maryland Space Assembly and Test 2 facility at its manufacturing campus here. The 55,000 square foot facility provides a digitally integrated manufacturing, assembly and test hub to support customer needs and the company’s growing space payload and ground systems capabilities.

“Our continued investment in Maryland helps meet our customer needs while strengthening our commitments to this community and our workforce,” says Scott Lee, vice president and general manager for payload and ground systems at Northrop Grumman. “The new digitally integrated MSAT2 grows our advanced manufacturing, assembly and test capabilities as we continue to deliver end-to-end space solutions with speed and agility.”

MSAT2 adds a progressive assembly line and unique testing capabilities to the integrated Maryland Space Assembly and Test complex. A central feature is a state-of-the-art thermal vacuum chamber (TVAC).

The TVAC simulates the harsh thermal conditions of space, allowing engineers to subject space payloads to extreme temperature variations and ensure uninterrupted performance. The facility also includes advanced, digitally driven robotic manufacturing with environmentally controlled 10K and 100K class clean rooms.

This new facility expands the company presence at the campus, which already spans more than 1 million square feet. At the Baltimore campus, the company also conducts flight tests with its fleet of test aircraft and provides a digital engineering simulation capability of aircraft in development.