Look Up Space vs Northrop Grumman Space: Defense & intelligence compared

November 2026 edition · assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence

Northrop Grumman Space ranks 9 on the Space 100 with a score of 85; Look Up Space ranks 66 with 69. Look Up Space is ahead on progress. Northrop Grumman Space is ahead on deployment, production, commercials and firepower. Level on technology, positioning and leverage. Look Up Space is based in Toulouse, France, Northrop Grumman Space in Dulles, United States. Northrop Grumman Space: Subsidiary. Look Up Space is named in 5 signals and Northrop Grumman Space in 112.

Look Up Space →

Toulouse, Occitanie, France · Space · Applications / Defense & intelligence · lookupspace.com

Look Up Space builds and operates space-surveillance radars, including SORASYS-1, that track objects in orbit for defense and space-security customers.

Space 100 · rank 66 · score 69

Scores, Space (of 10)

Deployment4
Production6
Commercials4
Progress10
Technology8
Positioning8
Firepower6
Leverage8

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

Positioning

Look Up is a French space situational-awareness and space-domain-awareness company that combines its SORASYS ground-radar network with the SYNAPSE data platform to detect, track and analyze satellites, debris and other orbital objects for defense, institutional and commercial customers. Founded by former French Space Commander Michel Friedling and former CNES space-safety chief Juan Carlos Dolado Pérez, it has an operational SORASYS-1 radar in Lozère, is deploying two additional radars in French Polynesia, and has named ecosystem relationships with CNES, EU SST, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces, Tahiti Nui Telecom and Skynopy. ([lookupspace.com](https://www.lookupspace.com/about-us))

Latest signals

  • Look Up Space is expanding its space-surveillance business into the United States and United Kingdom.Look Up Space
  • Look Up Space counted 14,389 active satellites in orbit in January 2026.Look Up Space
  • Look Up Space raised nearly €50 million to expand its global space-surveillance radar network.Look Up Space

5 signals name Look Up Space.

Facts, with sources

  • Look Up announced six more SORASYS radars in French overseas territories under a programme of over EUR 100M, incl. two in Tahiti (EUR 30M) and one in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (EUR 20M).unmannedairspace.info
  • Look Up Space signed an agreement with Tahiti Nui Telecom to install two space-surveillance radars in French Polynesia.Look Up Space
  • Look Up Space completed operational testing of its SORASYS-1 space-surveillance radar in Lozère.Look Up Space

9 facts on file.

Northrop Grumman Space →

Dulles, Virginia, United States · Space · Applications / Defense & intelligence · Subsidiary · northropgrumman.com

Northrop Grumman designs, builds and operates spacecraft for reconnaissance, missile tracking, communications and cargo, including SDA satellites and Cygnus.

Space 100 · rank 9 · score 85

Scores, Space (of 10)

Deployment8
Production8
Commercials10
Progress9
Technology8
Positioning8
Firepower10
Leverage8

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

Positioning

Northrop Grumman's space unit spans Cygnus ISS cargo, solid rocket motors (GEM/OmegA heritage), missile-warning primes, and an SDA Tranche 3 win, and it holds the servicing category's only commercial operating record via the flown MEV-1 and MEV-2 GEO life-extension servicers. It is the quiet incumbent while startups (Astroscale, Starfish) hold the servicing contracts pipeline, though a Northrop launch anomaly stranded AST's BB7. Segment financials are group-scoped and not broken out (a filings pass owed).

Latest signals

  • The U.S. Navy is fitting USS Ohio with Northrop Grumman’s DRAKE counter-drone system.Interesting Engineering
  • Cygnus NG-24 completed its cargo mission and reentered Earth’s atmosphere.Novosti Kosmonavtiki
  • SpaceX launched 21 Northrop Grumman communications satellites for the U.S. Space Development Agency.Novosti Kosmonavtiki

112 signals name Northrop Grumman Space.

Facts, with sources

  • 24-month contract for a reconnaissance satellite prototype awarded by the U.S. Space Forceinterestingengineering.com — 2026-09-19
  • Space Force contract naming Northrop Grumman as prime contractor for the GMTI programbreakingdefense.com — 2026-09-16
  • Departed the SNC-led Navy trainer team for the Undergraduate Jet Amazon System programbreakingdefense.com — 2026-09-14

51 facts on file.

More comparisons

Questions this page answers

Look Up Space or Northrop Grumman Space: which is ahead in space?

Northrop Grumman Space ranks 9 on the Space 100 with a score of 85; Look Up Space ranks 66 with 69. Look Up Space is ahead on progress. Northrop Grumman Space is ahead on deployment, production, commercials and firepower. Level on technology, positioning and leverage. Look Up Space is based in Toulouse, France, Northrop Grumman Space in Dulles, United States. Northrop Grumman Space: Subsidiary. Look Up Space is named in 5 signals and Northrop Grumman Space in 112.

How do Look Up Space and Northrop Grumman Space compare?

Northrop Grumman Space ranks 9 on the Space 100 with a score of 85; Look Up Space ranks 66 with 69. Look Up Space is ahead on progress. Northrop Grumman Space is ahead on deployment, production, commercials and firepower. Level on technology, positioning and leverage. Look Up Space is based in Toulouse, France, Northrop Grumman Space in Dulles, United States. Northrop Grumman Space: Subsidiary. Look Up Space is named in 5 signals and Northrop Grumman Space in 112. Both company files carry the scores on eight measures, the facts with sources and the latest signals.

Every comparison here comes from the same files members use every day.

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