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A LOOK INSIDE RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGIES' "SPACE FACTORY"
More than two decades after the facility’s creation, Raytheon Missiles & Defense continues to boost its mission to keep exoatmospheric capabilities ahead of threats.
At the space factory, air is filtered out every 27 seconds to simulate Earth’s exoatmosphere where even a minuscule fleck of dust can damage instruments and systems.
Run by Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a business of Raytheon Technologies, the space factory covers over 49,000 square feet. Inside are dozens of clean rooms housing space-simulating technologies to support the production and testing of complex space hardware.
Each clean room is designed specifically for manufacturing or testing interceptor technologies for successful deployment and performance beyond Earth’s atmosphere as a critical component of the United States’ missile defense capabilities.
Simulating space
Stainless steel is the metal of choice in the space factory for particle mitigation, while sensors throughout the building constantly measure air pressure, temperature, humidity and microscopic particles – all measures to simulate space for optimal product performance.
Meanwhile, the factory’s cleaning crews work around the clock, thoroughly scrubbing all surfaces and floors. And, depending on restrictions in the four classes of clean zones, the air is swapped out every 27 seconds – using both HEPA and ULPA filters. For example, a technician or engineer working an eight-hour day will get fresh air that’s exchanged over a thousand times during their shift.
Then and now
The space factory’s roots took hold in the late 1990s, when the U.S. government tasked what is now Raytheon Missiles & Defense – the world's largest producer of guided missiles – with building a system to counter the rising threat of long-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The result of that rapid work – and the space factory’s first product – was the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle. The EKV has since become the first line of defense for the U.S. Ground-Based Interceptor and part of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System. It destroys incoming missiles by slamming into them in space.
While the EKV was the Tucson facility’s initial project in 2002 and has since gone through multiple upgrades there, the factory is also working on the Standard Missile-3 family and development of a Next Generation Interceptor, or NGI, in partnership with Northrop Grumman, for a Missile Defense Agency competition.
At the space factory in Tucson, a technician tests exoatmospheric technology in an ultra-clean environment.
NGI will track and destroy a new array of enemy missile threats. The system will accomplish this by using advanced technologies and algorithms to approach and discern the threat, release kill vehicles and command them to intercept before the threat re-enters the atmosphere.
One of a kind
So far, the space factory has contributed to more than 50 successful tests of Raytheon Missiles & Defense capabilities in space. The facility is widely recognized as unique and, in visits to the facility, Department of Defense personnel have identified it as a critical infrastructure and national asset for the protection of the U.S. and its allies.
Technicians and engineers support the production and testing of complex space hardware at the space factory, where sensors constantly ensure its air pressure, temperature, humidity and microscopic particles continue to simulate space.
Investing in the future
Since expanding the facility in 2015, Raytheon Missiles & Defense has invested $40 million in further modernizing manufacturing there. Among the updates:
Run by Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a business of Raytheon Technologies, the space factory covers over 49,000 square feet. Inside are dozens of clean rooms housing space-simulating technologies to support the production and testing of complex space hardware.
Each clean room is designed specifically for manufacturing or testing interceptor technologies for successful deployment and performance beyond Earth’s atmosphere as a critical component of the United States’ missile defense capabilities.
Simulating space
Stainless steel is the metal of choice in the space factory for particle mitigation, while sensors throughout the building constantly measure air pressure, temperature, humidity and microscopic particles – all measures to simulate space for optimal product performance.
Meanwhile, the factory’s cleaning crews work around the clock, thoroughly scrubbing all surfaces and floors. And, depending on restrictions in the four classes of clean zones, the air is swapped out every 27 seconds – using both HEPA and ULPA filters. For example, a technician or engineer working an eight-hour day will get fresh air that’s exchanged over a thousand times during their shift.
Then and now
The space factory’s roots took hold in the late 1990s, when the U.S. government tasked what is now Raytheon Missiles & Defense – the world's largest producer of guided missiles – with building a system to counter the rising threat of long-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The result of that rapid work – and the space factory’s first product – was the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle. The EKV has since become the first line of defense for the U.S. Ground-Based Interceptor and part of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System. It destroys incoming missiles by slamming into them in space.
While the EKV was the Tucson facility’s initial project in 2002 and has since gone through multiple upgrades there, the factory is also working on the Standard Missile-3 family and development of a Next Generation Interceptor, or NGI, in partnership with Northrop Grumman, for a Missile Defense Agency competition.
At the space factory in Tucson, a technician tests exoatmospheric technology in an ultra-clean environment.
NGI will track and destroy a new array of enemy missile threats. The system will accomplish this by using advanced technologies and algorithms to approach and discern the threat, release kill vehicles and command them to intercept before the threat re-enters the atmosphere.
One of a kind
So far, the space factory has contributed to more than 50 successful tests of Raytheon Missiles & Defense capabilities in space. The facility is widely recognized as unique and, in visits to the facility, Department of Defense personnel have identified it as a critical infrastructure and national asset for the protection of the U.S. and its allies.
Technicians and engineers support the production and testing of complex space hardware at the space factory, where sensors constantly ensure its air pressure, temperature, humidity and microscopic particles continue to simulate space.
Investing in the future
Since expanding the facility in 2015, Raytheon Missiles & Defense has invested $40 million in further modernizing manufacturing there. Among the updates:
- Increased use of robotics in manufacturing.
- Additional cryogenic chambers for space-simulated testing.
- More extremely clean micro-environment capabilities, which reduce air particles to less than 10 particles per cubic foot.
- A first-of-its-kind three-axis shock and vibration system, which creates space flight frequencies for testing without disrupting the product's configuration.
As facilities across Raytheon Missiles & Defense are doing, the space factory is also stepping up digital technologies that enable faster and more efficient work in design and testing.
www.raytheonmissilesanddefense.com
