 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Swales Aerospace Delivers THEMIS Micro-Satellite To NASA
Beltsville MD (SPX) Apr 04, 2006 Swales Aerospace announced the delivery of the second of five THEMIS micro-satellite spacecraft busses. NASA's THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions) mission consists of five identical, small satellites (the Swales spacecraft have a dry mass of ~ 50kg and an equal amount of propellant for maneuvers). They are designed to fly as a constellation to determine the cause of global reconfigurations of the Earth's magnetosphere, a region of the upper atmosphere extending for thousands of miles. Each of the five satellites carries the same suite of electric, magnetic and particle instruments. Swales Aerospace is the prime contractor for the spacecraft bus and the satellite dispenser probe carrier. This second spacecraft bus was integrated and delivered by Swales to the Principal Investigator team at the University of California, Berkeley under NASA's Explorer Program. "The Swales busses are unique in that they simultaneously satisfy many competing requirements in the near deep-space high-earth orbits of the THEMIS program," said Dan Mark, Swales Vice President for Civil Space Programs. "This micro-satellite technology has applicability for a variety of different space missions," he added. The THEMIS program is unique in that it is NASA's first scientific research micro-satellite constellation and has been critical to demonstrating the programmatic and technical feasibility essential to the future needs of the Heliophysics and Exploration communities for multi-point measurements that are vital to the scientific roadmaps for the next several decades. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Swales Aerospace NASA THEMIS Mission Space Technology News - Applications and Research
Ball Aerospace Wins Space Test Satellite Contract
Boulder CO (SPX) Apr 03, 2006Ball Aerospace and Technologies has been selected as the prime contractor by the United States Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center for the Space Test Program's Standard Interface Vehicle (STP-SIV). |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
