WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.,
Aug. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/
-- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has been awarded a
contract from the Johns Hopkins
University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to supply its
space inertial reference system for NASA's Solar Probe Plus
program.
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Under a nearly $3 million
contract, Northrop Grumman will provide its Scalable Space Inertial
Reference Unit (Scalable SIRU™) for the Solar Probe Plus
mission, which APL manages for NASA. By supplying critical rotation
rate data that enable the stabilization, pointing and attitude
control of satellites and space vehicles, the Scalable
SIRU™ will play a vital role in the Solar Probe Plus
spacecraft's unprecedented mission to fly through and examine the
sun's atmosphere. The Scalable SIRU™ delivery is
expected in May 2016.
Expected to launch in 2018, Solar Probe Plus will explore the
sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, for the first time. The
spacecraft will employ a combination of in-situ measurements and
imaging to understand why the sun's outer atmosphere is much hotter
than the sun's visible surface, and what accelerates the solar wind
that affects Earth and our solar system. More information is
available at http://solarprobe.jhuapl.edu.
"Our Scalable SIRU™ was competitively selected for
the Solar Probe Plus mission because of its unparalleled
performance, accuracy and reliability," said Bob Mehltretter, vice president, Navigation and
Positioning Systems, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. "The
system is equipped with redundant components that meet the strict,
high performance requirements of the anticipated seven-year
mission."
The Scalable SIRU™ is the industry standard for
high-precision, long-life attitude control solutions supporting
commercial, government and civil space missions. Northrop Grumman's
Scalable SIRU™ has proven its performance during
numerous space missions, including NASA's MESSENGER mission to
orbit Mercury and the Global Precipitation Measurement mission. At
the heart of the Scalable SIRU™ is Northrop Grumman's
patented hemispherical resonator gyro, which has been used in space
without a mission failure for more than 28 million operating
hours.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing
innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems,
cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and
commercial customers worldwide. Please visit
www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
SOURCE Northrop Grumman Corporation