Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC), one of the largest space and defense contractors in the United States, is best known for its Space Shuttle and SLS solid rocket motors. However, it also manufactures a wide range of other solid rocket motors for space and defense applications.
The company maintains and operates a program, the Solid Motor Annual Technology Demonstrator (SMART), to test new technologies and processes for building solid motors. SMART takes on more technical risk and includes processes and materials that are not traditionally part of solid rocket motor development. NGC develops and tests solid motors yearly for this purpose.