NTS (National Technical Systems)

NTS (National Technical Systems), headquartered in Calabasas, California, is one of North America's largest independent environmental testing laboratory networks, with over 25 test facilities across the United States providing the full range of environmental qualification and acceptance testing required for space hardware to achieve flight certification.

Founded in 1961, NTS operates thermal vacuum chambers (ranging from small component-level chambers to full spacecraft systems vacuum chambers 3+ meters in diameter), multi-axis vibration tables for sine, random, and acoustic testing per NASA-HDBK-7005, shock test machines for pyrotechnic release events, EMI/EMC anechoic chambers for radiated emissions and susceptibility testing, and radiation test capabilities including proton and gamma irradiation for total ionizing dose (TID) and single-event effects (SEE) characterization.

Space hardware clients span the full industry spectrum: NASA prime contractors like Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing submit flight hardware for qualification campaigns; small satellite manufacturers use NTS for acceptance testing of individual units and subsystems; and commercial constellation operators rely on NTS for proto-flight campaigns where qualification and acceptance occur on the same unit.

NTS's multi-site network means customers can schedule testing across facilities to avoid the bottlenecks common at single-location test facilities, particularly important during high-tempo launch campaign periods when thermal vacuum chamber time is scarce industry-wide. The company is accredited to NVLAP, A2LA, and ISO/IEC 17025 standards. NTS competes with Element Materials Technology (formerly Exova), TEAM Corporation for vibration, and government test facilities at NASA Goddard, JPL, and AFRL for radiation.