Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (BATC) has been awarded a $10.4 million contract from the California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the design and development of a Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) for the Outer Planets/Solar Probe Project.
The Stellar Reference Unit enables the Attitude Control Subsystem aboard the spacecraft to provide sufficient image data for simultaneous three-axis determination of spacecraft attitude by the Space Flight Computer.
The SRU consists of a baffle, optics, a Focal Plane Array (FPA), FPA control electronics (analog), digital electronics, a power converter, connectors and cables and an interface to communicate with the Spacecraft Flight Computer.
This contract is a follow-on to a study contract that Ball Aerospace began in May 1999 and features Ball Aerospace’s unique design approach for a radiation hardened Stellar Reference Unit. Deliverables include one engineering unit, one protoflight unit and four flight units.
The SRUs were slated to fly on the Pluto Kuiper Express Mission in 2004 and the Europa Mission in 2007, but the Pluto Kuiper Express has recently been deferred so two of the flight units are seeking utilization opportunities elsewhere.
