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UA9FBV > SAT 21.03.04 17:12l 63 Lines 2484 Bytes #999 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : ANS-081.04
Read: DB0FHN GUEST
Subj: Los Alamos and Surrey Satellite Contract for Experiment
Path: DB0FHN<DB0FOR<DB0SIF<DB0EA<DB0RES<ER3KAZ<UA9FBV
Sent: 040321/1508Z @:UA9FBV.PRM.RUS.AS #:54158 [Perm] GATEWAY $:ANS-081.04
From: UA9FBV@UA9FBV.PRM.RUS.AS
To : SAT@AMSAT
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 081.04 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. March 21, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-081.04
Los Alamos National Laboratory and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited
(SSTL) have announced a contract agreement for development of an advanced
satellite platform for ionospheric and lightning studies.
The British firm, SSTL, will create the satellite platform that will be u=
sed
to carry the Cibola Flight Experiment payload developed by Los Alamos. Th=
e
contract with SSTL is valued at USD 11.8 million.
Los Alamos, operated by the University of California for the U.S. Nationa=
l
Nuclear Security Administration, is building the Cibola Flight Experiment
(CFE), a reconfigurable processor payload intended for a low-Earth orbit
system. It will survey portions of the VHF and UHF radio spectra. The
experiment uses networks of reprogrammable, field programmable gate array=
s
(FPGAs) to process the received signals for ionospheric and lightning
studies. The objective is to detect and measure impulsive events that occ=
ur
in a complex background.
The experiment will also validate the on-orbit use of commercial,
reconfigurable FPGA technology demonstrating several different schemes fo=
r
the mitigation and correction of "single-event upsets" that would crash m=
ost
current computer systems.
The U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program (STP) is including the =
CFE
satellite as part of the STP-1 space flight mission. The STP-1 mission go=
al
is to provide space-flight opportunity for a maximum number of DoD Space
Experiments Review Board payloads on a single launch. The DoD Space Test
Program is responsible for the integration of seven satellites into a sin=
gle
payload stack and launch of the STP-1 mission. The STP-1 mission is
scheduled for launch in 2006 on a medium-class Lockheed-Martin Atlas-V, a
U.S. Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), using the EELV's
Secondary Payload Adapter that allows small satellites to be launched as
"piggyback" passengers with larger spacecraft.
Timothy Murphy, head of research and development during the selection
process in the International, Space and Technology Division at Los Alamos=
,
added "It will be essential that our payload's partners can meet our
schedule with a flight-proven satellite platform that we are confident wi=
ll
be flight-ready in time for the EELV launch."
[ANS thanks SSTL for the above information]
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