Boeing-built GOES-15 Weather Satellite Enters Service for NASA, NOAA

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Sept. 1, 2010 — Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced that GOES-15, the company’s eighth Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, has completed on-orbit testing and has been accepted into service by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“GOES-15 completes the fleet of advanced meteorological satellites that Boeing designed, built and launched to provide enhanced weather monitoring over North America and refresh NOAA’s operational fleet,” said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems. “The United States will have state-of-the-art satellite images on nightly weather telecasts, better weather monitoring and prediction, and more accurate data for climate studies because of these new GOES satellites. We thank our NASA and NOAA customers for the nearly 13 successful years of cooperative development that has enabled us to deliver the full GOES fleet.”

“Clearly, this is a great day for NASA, NOAA and all of our team members,” said André Dress, GOES deputy project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. “We take great pride in knowing that all the years of hard work, late hours and diligence have paid off. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, ITT and United Launch Alliance have really shone on this mission, and it shows in the final product. GOES-15 will be a great addition to the constellation, and we look forward to seeing it in operation.”

GOES-15 was launched on March 4 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The satellite successfully completed five months of on-orbit testing and demonstrated operational readiness of its subsystems, spacecraft instruments and communications services. GOES-15 has already started to deliver high-resolution photos from space, including the first visible and infrared images of Earth taken by its imager instrument, and the first image of the sun taken by its solar X-ray imager instrument.

The eight GOES satellites that Boeing has built for NASA and NOAA began with GOES-D, which launched in 1980. The on-orbit GOES constellation includes the three recently produced Boeing satellites known as GOES-13 (formerly GOES-N), GOES-14 (formerly GOES-O) and GOES-15 (formerly GOES-P). GOES-13 was activated as the operational GOES-East satellite on April 14, in time to monitor the 2010 hurricane season over the Atlantic Ocean. GOES-13 replaced GOES-12, which NOAA moved to 60 degrees west longitude to provide coverage for South America as part of the Global Earth Observing System of Systems. GOES-14 is currently in a storage orbit of 105 degrees west longitude, ready to become a primary operational satellite in the next two years. GOES-15 will be placed in an on-orbit storage location at 105 degrees west longitude.

The mission of the GOES satellites is to provide space-based Earth observation and global environment-sensing activities, delivering enhanced weather forecasting that protects life and property. In addition to providing the familiar weather images seen on television newscasts every day, NASA and NOAA also recently released a six-minute video of the 2009 hurricane season. The video includes data and images supplied by the GOES satellites.

In addition to the acceptance of GOES-15, Boeing also handed over a government satellite to the U.S. Air Force on Aug. 26. The delivery of two operational satellites to two customers in the same week marks only the second time this has occurred in Space & Intelligence Systems’ 47-year history, underscoring Boeing’s commitment to solid program execution.

Source: Boeing

Lockheed Martin Advancing On Next-Generation Commercial Remote Sensing Satellite System For GeoEye

August 31st, 2010 — The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] team developing GeoEye’s next-generation, high-resolution commercial Earth-imaging satellite system known as GeoEye-2, has successfully completed on-schedule a System Requirements Review (SRR), an important program milestone that precedes the Preliminary Design Review.

With launch scheduled to support start of operations in 2013, Lockheed Martin is developing GeoEye-2 under a fixed price contract to support the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) EnhancedView commercial imagery program. GeoEye was awarded an EnhancedView contract worth up to $3.8 billion on Aug. 6, 2010. EnhancedView is designed to provide critical geospatial situational awareness and global security information to intelligence analysts, war fighters and decision makers. GeoEye’s commercial users will also benefit from access to imagery from GeoEye-2.

The successful SRR verified the maturity of Lockheed Martin’s system design for meeting the key user requirements and the team’s readiness to proceed with the Preliminary Design Review phase scheduled for completion later this year.

“This important review effectively demonstrated the advanced state of our GeoEye-2 design and how we can significantly improve the quality and quantity of commercial space-based imagery for our customer,” said Allen Anderson, Lockheed Martin’s GeoEye-2 program director. “We look forward to rapidly fielding this critical capability and achieving mission success on this important program.”

Bill Schuster, GeoEye’s chief operating officer, commented, “We are pleased to again be partnering with Lockheed Martin to leverage their 50-year heritage of building advanced satellite imaging systems. Lockheed Martin and their subcontractors are assembling a best-in-class team to build and launch GeoEye-2 so we can meet all of our requirements under the EnhancedView program.”

Lockheed Martin Space Systems, a world leader in the most advanced space-based systems for government and commercial customers, is under contract to deliver GeoEye-2 and the associated command and control system. The spacecraft will feature a new high-resolution ITT camera that has been in development for more than two years.

Lockheed Martin designed and built the world’s first commercial, high-resolution, Earth-imaging satellite, IKONOS, which has been providing 0.82-meter ground resolution imagery to GeoEye’s customers around the globe for more than a decade.

About GeoEye
GeoEye, Inc. is a leading international information services company serving government and commercial markets. The Company is recognized as one of the geospatial industry’s imagery experts, delivering exceptional quality imagery products, services and solutions to customers around the world. Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, the Company has over 500 employees dedicated to developing best-in-class geospatial information products and services. GeoEye is a public company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol GEOY. The Company provides support to academic institutions and non-governmental organizations through the GeoEye Foundation (www.geoeyefoundation.org). Additional information about GeoEye is available at www.geoeye.com

Source and pictur: Lockheed Martin

NASA, Internet Archive And Flickr Launch Historic Image Collection

WASHINGTON — Three compilations of images from more than half a century of NASA history are available for comment on a section of the photo-sharing site Flickr known as The Commons.

Visitors to NASA on The Commons can help tell the photos’ story by adding tags, or keywords, to the images to identify objects and people. In addition, viewers can communicate with other visitors by sharing comments. These contributions will help make the images easier to find online and add insight about NASA’s history.

The capability to interact with these already-public photos is the result of a partnership between NASA, Flickr from Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, Calif., and Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library based in San Francisco.

Three sets of photos share a common theme of NASA beginnings. The “Launch and Takeoff” set captures iconic spacecraft and aircraft taking flight. “Building NASA” spotlights ground-breaking events and the construction of some of NASA’s one-of-a-kind facilities. The “Center Namesakes” set features photos of the founders and figureheads of NASA’s 10 field centers. To view NASA on The Commons images, visit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons

Source: NASA

U2 And NASA Create Video To Celebrate Collaboration

WASHINGTON — NASA and U2 released a commemorative video highlighting a year’s worth of collaboration in space and on the Irish rock band’s 360 Degree tour.

U2 approached NASA in 2009 with an idea to include a dialogue between the band and the crew of the International Space Station during U2′s world tour. The astronauts of Expedition 20, the crew then living aboard the space station, agreed to participate and spoke with U2 several times before recording a video segment the band incorporated into its concerts.

The space station crew members were Michael Barratt of NASA, Frank De Winne of the European Space Agency, Bob Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency, Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Gennady Padalka and Roman Romanenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency.

“Working with U2 is atypical for NASA,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for Space Operations. “By combining their world tour with the space station’s out-of-this-world mission, more people — and different people than our normal target audiences — learned about the International Space Station and the important work we are doing in orbit.”

Speaking onstage in Houston last year, Bono said, “These are the very best people in the world — dedicated to figuring how our little planet exists in this cosmos we call home.” De Winne, and Romanenko attended U2′s performance in Moscow on Wednesday and met with the band before the show.

U2.com created the video and presented it to NASA to document the collaboration between the band and the space agency.

Source: NASA

SPACEX’S DRAGON SPACECRAFT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES HIGH ALTITUDE DROP TEST

Final Test Before Launch Validates Mission Critical Function — Successful Test of Parachute Systems and Recovery Operations for Spacecraft Set to Return Supplies from Space Station

Hawthorne, CA – Today SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies) announced their Dragon spacecraft has successfully completed a high altitude drop test — meeting 100% of test objectives. This is the last in a series of tests to validate parachute deployment systems and recovery operations before the craft’s first launch.

During the August 12th test, an Erikson S-64F Air-Crane helicopter dropped a test article of the Dragon spacecraft from a height of 14,000 feet, roughly nine miles off the coast of Morro Bay, California. In a carefully timed sequence of events, dual redundant drogue parachutes deployed first to stabilize and gently slow the craft before three main parachutes, 116 feet in diameter, further slowed the craft to a picture perfect landing. From there, recovery ships successfully returned the Dragon and parachutes to shore.

While Dragon will initially be used to transport cargo, the spacecraft was designed to transport crew and the parachute system validated during the test is the same system that would be used on a crew-carrying Dragon.

“By holding the Dragon to stringent standards for manned missions from the start, tests like this will ensure the highest quality and reliability for Dragon over the long term,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and CTO. “We are proving, every day, that the future of American missions to space will rely on American made commercial companies.”

The two drogue parachutes create a more gradual reduction in speed, important for future manned missions, while the three oversized parachutes are important to ensuring a safe and comfortable landing, slowing the spacecraft’s descent to approximately 16-18 feet per second. Under nominal conditions, astronauts would experience no more than roughly 2-3 g’s during this type of decent—less than you’d experience at an amusement park. And with three main parachutes, even if Dragon were to lose one, crew would still land safely.

“Data gathered during the drop test will be invaluable as we prepare for the upcoming demonstration flight of the first operational Dragon spacecraft,” said Chris Thompson, SpaceX VP of Structures.

In June 2010, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft test article. Later this year, SpaceX will take the next step in testing, delivering an operational Dragon to low earth orbit atop a Falcon 9. This is the first demonstration flight under its inclusion in NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, established in 2006 to encourage private companies to develop commercial space transport capabilities.

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and its Falcon 9 launch vehicle have been selected by NASA to deliver supplies to and from the International Space Station starting in 2011. The Dragon spacecraft can return as much as 2,500 kilograms (5,510 lbs) of cargo from the space station back to Earth, a service not offered by any other commercial cargo supply system.

Landing of an operational Dragon is a far more precise operation than seen in the drop test. Draco thrusters fired during reentry will ensure Dragon lands less than a mile from the targeted site. The dispersion is due only to wind pushing Dragon’s parachutes—in low winds Dragon’s landing accuracy will be within a few hundred feet. Once the ability to accurately control reentry is proven, SpaceX plans to add deployable landing gear and use thrusters to safely land Dragon on land.

NASA Asks Public for Final Shuttle Missions’ Wakeup Songs

HOUSTON — If you like music, the space program and are a little nostalgic, NASA has the perfect opportunity for you. For the first time, the public can help choose songs to wake up the astronauts during the last two scheduled space shuttle missions.

Traditionally, the songs played to wake up the astronauts are selected by friends and family of the crews. For the last two scheduled missions, NASA is inviting the public to visit the “Wakeup Song Contest” website to select songs from a list of the top 40 previous wakeup calls or to submit original tunes for consideration. To vote or submit a song, visit:

https://songcontest.nasa.gov
The two songs with the most votes from the top 40 list will be played as crew wakeup calls on the final scheduled flight of space shuttle Discovery. Discovery’s STS-133 mission is targeted to launch on Nov. 1.

“We’re looking forward to hearing which songs the public wants played for us,” STS-133 Commander Steve Lindsey said. “It’s going to be a difficult choice, because there have been so many great songs played over the years.”

Original songs must have a space theme and be submitted to NASA by 4 p.m. CST on Jan. 10, 2011. The songs will be reviewed by agency officials and the top finalists put to a public vote. The top two songs will be used to wake space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 crew.
Endeavour’s mission is the last scheduled space shuttle flight. It is targeted to launch on Feb. 26, 2011.

“Space shuttle crews really enjoy the morning wake-up music,” STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly said. “While we don’t have the best quality speaker in the space shuttle, it will be interesting to hear what the public comes up with. We are looking forward to it.”

Source: NASA

U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin Team Complete GPS III Design Phase Ahead Of Schedule

Next Generation GPS III Program Shifts to Production Phase

NEWTOWN, Pa., August 20th, 2010 — The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] team developing the U.S. Air Force’s next generation Global Positioning System, known as GPS III, has successfully completed the program’s Critical Design Review (CDR) phase two months ahead of the baseline schedule. CDR completion, the program’s most significant milestone to-date, validates the detailed GPS III design to ensure it meets warfighter and civil requirements, and allows the program to begin the production phase.

More than 350 representatives from the U.S. Air Force Global Positioning Systems Wing, the GPS III contractor team, as well as user communities from the Department of Defense, Air Force Space Command, the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration participated in a four-day Space Vehicle CDR at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company’s new Patriot Center in Newtown, Pa.

Completion of the CDR phase represents the culmination of many rigorous assembly, subsystem, element, space vehicle and system level CDR events and validates the overall design maturity of the GPS III Space Vehicle and Lockheed Martin’s readiness to enter production.

“With a focus on strong systems engineering and program management fundamentals, the team successfully executed a high-quality design review, which included 65 detailed CDR events,” said Col. Bernard J. Gruber, U.S. Air Force GPS Wing Commander. “Having completed the milestone ahead of schedule with excellent results, the program is on firm footing, and I am confident the team will successfully deliver this critical next generation system to enhance GPS capabilities for millions of military and civilian users around the globe.”

GPS III will improve position, navigation and timing services and provide advanced anti-jam capabilities yielding superior system security, accuracy and reliability. The next generation GPS IIIA satellites will guarantee signals three times more accurate than current GPS spacecraft and provide three times more power for military users, while also adding a new civil signal (L1C) that is designed to be interoperable with other global navigation satellite systems. The GPS IIIA flexible design will allow for low-risk, reliable and affordable capability insertion for the future GPS IIIB and IIIC spacecraft.

“This successful review demonstrated with high confidence that our low-risk GPS III design will meet warfighter and civil user requirements and that we are fully prepared to enter the production phase of this vitally important program,” said Joe Trench, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of Navigation Systems. “Working in partnership with the Air Force, we look forward to building on our momentum to achieve our customer’s cost, schedule and performance requirements for this essential program.”

Lockheed Martin, Newtown, Pa., along with teammates ITT of Clifton, N.J., and General Dynamics of Scottsdale, Ariz., is working under a $3 billion Development and Production contract awarded by the Global Positioning Systems Wing of the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles, Calif., which includes production of up to 12 GPS IIIA satellites. The team is on track to launch the first GPS IIIA satellite in 2014.

“ITT’s strong commitment and support of the recent successful CDR affirms the strength of the Lockheed Martin GPS III team,” said Mark Pisani, vice president and general manager of Positioning, Navigation and Timing Systems, ITT Geospatial Systems. “ITT looks forward to working with the entire GPS III team to develop and integrate the navigation payloads for the next generation of navigation satellites.”

The GPS constellation provides critical situational awareness and precision weapon guidance for the military and supports a wide range of civil, scientific and commercial functions – from air traffic control to navigation systems in cars, cell phones and wristwatches. GPS is increasing productivity in areas as diverse as farming, mining, construction, surveying, package delivery and supply chain management. The system is also enhancing public safety by reducing response times for ambulances, firefighters and other emergency services.

Air Force Space Command’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS), based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., manages and operates the GPS constellation for both civil and military users.

Source and photo: Lockheed Martin

First Advanced Extremely High Frequency Satellite Built By Lockheed Martin Launched Successfully

National asset will provide significant new communications capabilities to warfighter

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, August 14th, 2010 — The first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] for the U.S. Air Force, was successfully launched today from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas V rocket provided by the United Launch Alliance. The satellite is the most technologically advanced military communications satellite ever developed and will provide significantly improved global, survivable, highly secure, protected, communications for warfighters operating on ground, sea and air platforms.

“This morning’s successful launch is testimony to the dedication, skill and operational excellence of the entire government-industry AEHF team,” said Col. Michael Sarchet, commander of the Protected Satellite Communications Group at the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center. “For over 15 years, the Milstar constellation has served as the backbone of secure military communications, helping the military operate in a secure mode without concern of enemy interference. AEHF will significantly enhance our national security space architecture, and we eagerly anticipate providing this new capability to the warfighter.”

A single AEHF satellite will provide greater total capacity than the entire Milstar constellation currently on-orbit. Individual user data rates can be up to five times higher than Milstar’s highest speed. The higher data rates will permit transmission of tactical military communications, such as higher-quality real-time video and faster access to battlefield maps and targeting data. In addition to its tactical mission, AEHF will also provide the critical survivable, protected, and endurable communications to the National Command Authority including presidential conferencing in all levels of conflict. The AEHF constellation will also serve international partners including Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

 “Our number one priority is delivering mission success for our customer,” said Mike Davis, Lockheed Martin’s AEHF vice president. “The AEHF system will vastly improve battlefield communications, delivering secure, real-time, connectivity to a greater number forces in the field, and their commanders anywhere on the globe. We look forward to successfully executing the next steps necessary to making this national asset operational for the warfighter.”

The AEHF team is led by the U.S. Air Force Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, Calif., is the AEHF prime contractor, space and ground segments provider as well as system integrator, with Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, Calif., as the payload provider.

“We are proud to be part of the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin team that has worked so hard to launch this capability vital to our warfighters,” said Stuart Linsky, vice president, Protected SatCom Programs, for Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems sector.

Source: Lockheed Martin

ESA extends ExoMars mission contract with Thales Alenia Space

The  European  Space  Agency  (ESA)  has awarded a Contract Change Notice to Thales  Alenia  Space worth 98 million euros for the ExoMars mission to Mars. This  latest  contract  covers the second extension of the mission’s Phase B2 (B2X2)  and  the second major segment of the program’s development to prepare the production phase (advanced C/D).

The  contract extension will cover all program activities through March 2011, allowing the ExoMars industrial team to carry out the System PDR (Preliminary Design Review) in autumn 2010. It will also enable finalizing the preliminary design  of  the  two  missions, planned for 2016 and 2018, and the spacecraft modules  for  the  next  development  and production phase, starting in April 2011.  In  addition,  detailed  design, procurement and testing can start for critical units.

“In addition to ensuring program continuity and making sure we stay on schedule, this contract extension will support continued work by the program’s subcontractors and help us minimize the development risks of such a new and complex mission,” said Vincenzo Giorgio, Director of Science Programs at Thales Alenia Space.

Carried out jointly with NASA, ExoMars is the first mission in ESA’s “Aurora” exploration program. ExoMars actually involves two different missions: the first, scheduled for 2016, will study the Martian atmosphere and demonstrate the feasibility of several key technologies for the entry, descent, and landing phases, vital for the future human exploration of Mars. It will also provide data relay for communications between Earth and the Martian rovers in subsequent missions. The second mission, in 2018, includes a European rover capable of moving autonomously, taking samples of the soil down to a depth of two meters and analyzing its chemical, physical, and biological properties.

Thales Alenia Space Italia is the industrial prime contractor for the ExoMars program, as well as being in charge of the design of the Entry Descent Demonstrator Module (EDM), the development of the Analytical Laboratory Drawer (ALD), which includes the Pasteur Payload instruments, its integration on the Rover, the onboard computer and the EDM’s radar altimeter. Thales Alenia Space France is responsible for the design and integration of the Orbiter module.

Source: Thales

Boeing Receives 3-Satellite Contract from Inmarsat

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Aug. 6, 2010 — Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced that it has received a contract from Inmarsat to build three Ka-band satellites to add to Inmarsat’s current mobile satellite services fleet. Financial details were not disclosed.

The fixed-price contract, with options, calls for three 702HP commercial spacecraft with 89 Ka-band beams that will operate in geosynchronous orbit with flexible global coverage. The new satellite series, called Inmarsat-5, draws on Boeing’s four decades of experience gained from the production of more than 175 commercial communications satellites and its extensive expertise in Ka-band satellite communications systems.

“This contract represents a best-value solution that combines Boeing’s unmatched commercial satellite heritage and Ka-band satellite communications experience to meet Inmarsat’s satellite requirements,” said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems. “Boeing has produced more Ka-band satellite communications systems than any other manufacturer, and we are currently producing the Wideband Global SATCOM satellite series, which is the primary Ka-band system for the U.S. government. We are committed to a successful partnership with Inmarsat for this newest addition to their service fleet.”

The Boeing satellites will provide Inmarsat with the ability to adapt to shifting subscriber usage patterns of high data rates, specialized applications and evolving demographics over a projected 15-year lifetime. In a separate arrangement, Boeing has also entered into a distribution partnership with Inmarsat to provide L- and Ka-band capacity to key users within the U.S. government.

The Inmarsat-5 spacecraft will be compatible with the Ariane, Sea Launch, Proton and Atlas launch vehicles. Launch services will be procured by Inmarsat.

Ariane 5’s third launch of 2010

5 August 2010
Yesterday evening, an Ariane 5 launcher lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on its mission to place two telecommunications satellites, Nilesat-201 and Rascom-QAF1R, into geostationary transfer orbits.
 

Liftoff of flight V196, the 52nd Ariane 5 mission, took place at 22:59 CEST (20:59 GMT; 17:59 French Guiana). The target injection orbit had a perigee altitude of 250 km, an apogee altitude at injection of 35 919 km and an inclination of 2º.

The satellites were accurately injected into their transfer orbits about 28 minutes and 32 minutes after liftoff, respectively.

 
 
Nilesat-201 will be positioned in geostationary orbit at an altitude of about 35 800 km over the equator at 7°W and will provide broadband direct-to-home television broadcast services to North Africa and the Middle East in the Ku- and Ka-bands.

Rascom-QAF1R, to be positioned at 2.85°E, will provide communications services in rural parts of Africa, including long-distance domestic and international links, direct TV broadcasts and Internet access. The payload mass for this launch was 7085 kg; the satellite masses totalled 6250 kg, with payload adapters and dispensers making up the additional 835 kg.

Arianespace and Europe’s Spaceport are planning three more Ariane launches in 2010, maintaining the heavy-lift vehicle’s flight rate. The ability to sustain high launch rates has already been demonstrated: during the 12-month period from August 2007 to August 2008 there were nine launches (V177 – V185).
 
 
V196 flight timeline

 
Ariane 5’s cryogenic, liquid-propellant main engine ignited first. Seven seconds later, the solid-propellant boosters also fired, and the vehicle lifted off a fraction of a second later.

The solid-propellant boosters were jettisoned 2 min 23 sec after main engine ignition, and the fairing protecting the payload during the climb through Earth’s atmosphere was discarded at 3 min 29 sec. The launcher’s main engine shut down at 8 min 53 sec; six seconds later, the main cryogenic stage separated from the upper stage and its payload.

Four seconds after main stage separation, the engine of the cryogenic upper stage was ignited to continue the journey. This engine shut down 24 min 43 sec into the flight, at which point the vehicle was travelling at 9437 m/s (33 973 km/h) at an altitude of 556.8 km – and geostationary transfer orbit had been achieved.

At 28 min 46 sec, Nilesat201 separated from the upper stage, followed by Rascom-QAF1R at 32 min 46 sec. Ariane 5’s flight was formally completed 48 min 50 sec after main engine ignition.

Source: ESA

Northrop Grumman Defense Support Program Satellite Model Slated for Display at U.S. Air Force Museum

REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Aug. 3, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — To commemorate 40 years of exceptional reliability and on-orbit performance of its Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites, Northrop Grumman Corporation  has configured a full-size model of a DSP satellite for display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

The 35-foot-long model is the only full-size representation of the satellite. It consists of the Structural Test Model (STM) mated to the Infrared Sensor Trailblazer component without the associated electronics. Crews completed work in May and the model was shipped in July to the museum aboard a C5 aircraft, in the same shipping container used for the actual satellite.

The configuration of the satellite model was performed as part of the company’s closeout of DSP production contracts for the Air Force.

“We are honored the Air Force has accepted our model to celebrate the 40-year history of DSP’s robust performance as one of the nation’s vital missile early warning systems,” said David DiCarlo, sector vice president and general manager, Space Systems Division. “The DSP constellation continues to provide outstanding mission analysis data from its infrared sensor.”

“We are proud to have produced the payload for the primary DSP mission at our facility in Azusa, Calif.,” noted John Johnson, sector vice president and general manager, ISR Systems Division, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. “A display in the Wright-Patterson Museum is a fitting tribute to one of the most successful programs in the history of the U.S. Air Force.”

In 2008, the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded a contract to the company to provide technical support for the operational DSP spacecraft, primary infrared sensor and mission analysis. The cost-plus award fee contract is valued at $206 million, which includes the initial year followed by four one-year options. The company is in the second year of the contract.

Northrop Grumman built the DSP infrared sensors in Azusa, Calif., and integrated them with the DSP spacecraft in Redondo Beach, Calif. DSP support and sustainment work will continue at both sites.

The first DSP was launched in 1970 and the final DSP was orbited in 2007. Several times throughout production, the spacecraft and sensor were upgraded to protect against evolving worldwide threats. DSP satellites have demonstrated exceptional reliability, providing an extra 184 satellite-years beyond their required life on-orbit to date.

Credit and photo: Northrop Grumman

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