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Lockheed Martin Team Demonstrates High Power Electric Propulsion System for TSAT Program

Written by thomas · Filed Under Aeronautics News 

July 23, 2008

thomas

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 23 /PRNewswire/ — The Lockheed Martin (NYSE:
LMT) /Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) Transformational Satellite
Communications System (TSAT) Space Segment team has completed a successful
demonstration of its new-generation High Power Hall Current Thruster
(HPHCT) electric propulsion system designed for use on the U.S. Air Force’s
TSAT constellation.

TSAT will provide thousands of military users with wideband, highly
mobile, beyond line-of-sight protected communications to support
network-centric operations for the future battlefield.

Developed by Lockheed Martin and Aerojet, the Hall Current propulsion
technology provides significantly improved fuel efficiency over
conventional chemical propulsion systems. The Hall Current Thruster system
will be used for both orbit transfer, as well as on-orbit station keeping.
Aerojet has over 30 years of experience developing and supplying the
electric propulsion needs for critical military, civil and commercial
satellites.

“We are extremely pleased with the performance of our next-generation
TSAT thruster system,” said Mark Pasquale, Lockheed Martin’s TSAT vice
president. “Successful demonstration and validation of thruster capability
during the risk reduction and system definition phase is a key achievement
for the entire team and represents another major milestone for this
critical national program.”

Leveraging the highly-successful 4.5 kW Hall Current Thruster System
for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program, the
TSAT-developed HPHCT yields a greater dry mass to orbit capability enabling
the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman TSAT Team to provide a low risk cost
effective solution that accommodates the demanding mission requirements for
the TSAT program.

TSAT represents the next step toward transitioning the Department of
Defense protected communications satellite architecture into a single
network comprising multiple satellite, ground, and user segment components.
The system ultimately will replace the Milstar and AEHF programs and
provide the Global Information Grid network extension to mobile
warfighters, sensors, weapons, and command, control, and communications
nodes located on unmanned aerial vehicles, piloted aircraft, on the ground,
in the air, at sea or in space.

The Lockheed Martin / Northrop Grumman TSAT space segment team, which
includes Juniper Networks, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., ViaSat, Carlsbad,
Calif., and Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services,
Gaithesburg, Md. is currently working under a contract for the Risk
Reduction and System Definition phase. This effort will culminate with a
multi-billion dollar development contract to be awarded to a single
contractor in late 2008.

The Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing, located at the
Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is
the TSAT contract manager and lead agency for ensuring the capabilities of
this system are made available to the warfighter.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 140,000
people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design,
development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced
technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2007
sales of $41.9 billion.

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