Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation has obligated a cumulative $1,614,792,955.30 under National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contract NNH15CN76C, according to USAspending.gov award data. NASA's own contract description identifies the award as a NextSTEP announcement covering exploration habitation concepts that build on the company's Cygnus spacecraft, previously used for International Space Station cargo resupply missions.

The figure differs from an initial candidate estimate of $1,634,792,955 circulated in FMG's sourcing pipeline; USAspending's award API confirms the verified total obligation as $1,614,792,955.30, and that figure is used here.

The contract matters to GovCon practitioners tracking NASA's exploration architecture because it shows how early-stage, competitively awarded study and development contracts can remain open and continue drawing obligations for a decade or more. USAspending records the award as full-and-open competition, with 34 offers received and negotiated proposal/quote procedures — a contrast to the sole-source GOCO facility contracts common elsewhere in federal R&D spending.

Per USAspending.gov, the contract was signed September 3, 2015, under NAICS code 541712 (Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences) and product/service code AR21 (space research and development). Its period of performance runs from September 3, 2015 to a current end date of May 31, 2029, with the most recent obligating modification recorded July 14, 2026 — six days before this report. USAspending lists 602 associated subawards. Place of performance is Sterling, Virginia (Loudoun County). NASA's own award description states the effort supports maturing habitation technologies — environmental control and life support, thermal control, docking and capture, and deployable habitation elements — building on the Cygnus platform toward what the description calls an "Exploration Augmentation Module."

Source: USAspending.gov Award NNH15CN76C