URL:  www.nrl.navy.mil/Our-Work/Areas-of-Research/Naval-Center-for-Space-Technology/

The mission of the Naval Center for Space Technology is to preserve and enhance a strong space technology base and provide expert assistance in the development and acquisition of space systems for naval missions, the activities of the Naval Center for Space Technology (NCST) extend from basic and applied research through advanced development in all areas of Navy space program interest. These activities include developing spacecraft, systems using these spacecraft, and ground command and control stations.

Principal functions of NCST include understanding and clarifying requirements, recognizing and prosecuting promising research and development, analyzing and testing systems to quantify their capabilities, developing operational concepts that exploit new technical capabilities, performing system engineering to allocate design requirements to subsystems, and performing engineering development and initial operation to test and evaluate selected spacecraft subsystems and systems.

NCST is a focal point and integrator for NRL divisions whose technologies are used in space systems. NCST also provides systems engineering and technical direction assistance to system acquisition managers of major space systems. In this role, technology transfer is a major goal that motivates a continuous search for new technologies and capabilities and the development of prototypes that demonstrate the integration of such technologies.

Currently, NCST is the Government partner for the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program developing mission payload, servicing arms, and tools. NCST is also developing mission parameters with industry partners for future servicing operations. Upon completion, NCST will be intimately involved in providing OOS/RPO services and would like to have visibility on direction that the commercial market is moving in order to best work with industry partners.