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TRW Awarded $8 Million Contract From JPL

24 June 1999

TRW Awarded $8 Million Contract From JPL For Deep Space Systems Technology Program

    REDONDO BEACH, Calif.--June 23, 1999--TRW Inc. has been awarded an $8 million contract by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for avionics components for the Deep Space Systems Technology program (DSST). The program is also known as X2000.
    TRW will develop and deliver microcontroller slice (MCS) units for the X2000 First Delivery. The MCS is a densely packaged, circuit card using several multi-chip modules to provide the digital data interface among the spacecraft bus subsystems including power, attitude control, transponder and science instruments.
    Deliveries of prototypes and engineering model units will start next year. These will be used on several spacecraft engineering test beds throughout JPL.
    "We are pleased to have been chosen to participate in this important technology development program," said Al Frew, vice president and general manager, TRW Space & Technology Division. "Our advanced, compact, low-cost microcontroller slice approach is ideally suited to JPL's upcoming mission needs. This program is also highly synergistic with our interests in Deep Space missions."
    The X2000 Program Center for Integrated Space Microsystems (CISM) is developing generic, multi-mission technologies that will reduce the size, mass and power of spacecraft avionics systems. Every three years, starting in 2000, the Center will develop and deliver advanced spacecraft avionics systems to missions bound for different areas of the solar system and beyond.
    The technologies will serve missions going to the Sun, Mars, Europa (a moon of Jupiter), Pluto-Kuiper, and a comet, Tempel 1.
    TRW's X2000 work draws on more than 30 years of experience delivering highly robust, high performance space-qualified computers for stressing environments. The MCS design includes TRW's radiation hardened, fault tolerant RH32 single chip computer, which will be capable of performing at processing speeds in excess of 45 MIPS.
    TRW Space & Electronics Group builds communications, scientific and defense spacecraft for military, civil and commercial customers, and produces, integrates and tests payloads; and develops advanced space instruments and integrates experiments into spacecraft. It is an operating unit of TRW Inc., which provides advanced technology products and services for the global automotive, aerospace and information systems markets.