TRW has delivered the first of two spacecraft comprising the Korean Multipurpose Satellite (KOMPSAT) program to the Republic of Korea’s space agency, the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).
The spacecraft is a flight-worthy protoflight model which was
assembled, integrated and tested at TRW’s Redondo Beach manufacturing
facilities to verify the structural and functional design of the
satellite. TRW also trained engineers from KARI in spacecraft
development and worked with Korean industrial partners to build and
test space-qualified hardware.
“We are proud to have made this contribution to Korea’s space
program,” said Joanne Maguire, vice president and general manager of
TRW’s Space & Laser Programs Division. “KARI and the Korean industrial
team gained valuable hands-on experience working side-by-side with our
engineers on the protoflight model. KOMPSAT is sure to enhance
Korea’s space development infrastructure and is a key component of its
20-year plan,” Maguire added.
The KOMPSAT flight model will be assembled, integrated and tested
at KARI facilities by Korean engineers with support from TRW. Plans
call for it to be launched next year into a low-Earth-orbit by a
Taurus booster from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
In 1995, TRW was awarded a 52-month contract to build two
satellites based on TRW’s modular, lightweight satellite bus
technology. The satellites host scientific payloads for ocean color
imaging, multi-spectral sensing and space physics measurements.
The flight model also includes an electro-optical camera with
seven-meter resolution built by TRW. The camera will provide
cartography data for developing digital elevation maps of the Korean
peninsula for land use and planning purposes.
KOMPSAT represents the first joint satellite development project
undertaken by KARI. Resident at TRW, 57 KARI engineers participated in
program activities as full members of the development team, honing the
technical and managerial skills needed to design, build, test, launch
and operate a spacecraft.
TRW also worked closely with Korean industrial companies to build
high-reliability, space-qualified hardware for KOMPSAT. Daewoo
provided the attitude and orbit control subsystem; Halla and Hanwah,
the propulsion subsystem; Hyundai, electrical power system components;
Korean Air and Doowon, the structural and thermal subsystem; and
Samsung, the on-board computer and satellite system test equipment.
