EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Dec. 15, 2022 – Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) RQ-4 RangeHawk supported the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket during the recent Artemis I mission.

RangeHawk is part of SkyRange, the Department of Defense Test Resource Management Center’s uncrewed high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE), responsive mobile flight test initiative.

“Supporting the Artemis I uncrewed flight test is a clear demonstration of the flexibility of the RQ-4 platform,” said Jane Bishop, vice president and general manager, global surveillance, Northrop Grumman.

“Our RQ-4 RangeHawks provide the combination of range, endurance and sensing capabilities needed for supporting this new era of deep space exploration.”

The Orion spacecraft was pushed from 17,500 mph to 22,600 mph by the unmanned SLS rocket to leave Earth's orbit and move for the moon shortly after the Artemis l launch and perigee raising manoeuvre.

The Pacific Ocean was in the burn's path, out of the ground stations' line of sight.

RangeHawks was used by NASA to gather rocket telemetry and receive the health and status information it delivered during the lapse in ground station coverage.

RangeHawk landed at the Pacific data collection site during the allotted window of time, at which point the Artemis TM Transmitter switched to a detectable signal that RangeHawk instantly captured.

Advanced telemetry collection sensors from RangeHawks operated normally and successfully collected data thanks to error-free signal reception.

Advanced telemetry collection sensors from RangeHawks operated normally and successfully collected data thanks to error-free signal reception.