Litton's New Space Power Management & Distribution Unit Is Powering Lockheed Martin's Successful IMAGE Spacecraft.

Business Editors and Aerospace Writers

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 2000

Litton Industries (NYSE:LIT) has announced that a new Radiation Hardened Power Distribution Unit (PDU), produced by Litton Advanced Systems of College Park, Md., is successfully powering Lockheed Martin's IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration) spacecraft, which was launched March 25, 2000, from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

NASA News, GSFC Press Release 00-58, May 31, 2000, reported: "All (IMAGE) spacecraft systems have been successfully deployed and are operating normally. All scientific instruments are operating as expected and are returning images.

"Initial pictures from NASA's IMAGE spacecraft are revealing for the first time the global ebb and flow of hot, electrified gas (plasma) around the Earth in response to the solar wind."

The IMAGE Power Distribution Unit (PDU) is based upon a new generation of space power systems (250W to 20KW) developed by Litton Advanced Systems. In addition to managing solar array output, battery charging, and power distribution to the IMAGE spacecraft and science payload, the PDU: 1) receives commands from the System Controller Unit (SCU) over a MIL-STD-1553 serial data bus, 2) reports Health and Status Telemetry to the SCU over the 1553 bus, 3) controls the Torque Rod current for the Attitude Control System (ACS), 4) controls power to the Thermal Subsystem heaters, including payload survival heaters, and 5) turns the MagLatch relay drivers on and off.

Earlier versions of this modular and software reconfigurable power system are used on the New Millennium Earth Observing - 1 (EO-1) Spacecraft and the MAP (Microwave Anisotropy Probe) spacecraft, which were co-developed by Litton Advanced Systems and Goddard Space Flight Center under a Space Act Agreement. Litton Advanced Systems was responsible for all of the spacecraft avionics subsystems for EO-1.

NASA's IMAGE spacecraft was built, integrated with its payload, and tested at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, Calif., under subcontract to Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) of San Antonio, Texas.

IMAGE, led by Dr. James L. Burch of SwRI, was selected by NASA under the Medium-class Explorer (MIDEX) program. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the IMAGE mission.

The IMAGE observatory is a spin-stabilized spacecraft that measures 2.25 meters (7.4 feet) in diameter and 1.52 meters (4.99 feet) in height and weighs 494 kg (1,087 pounds) (including instruments). Viewed from either end, it has the form of a regular octagon. Arrays of high-efficiency, dual-junction gallium-arsenide solar cells attached to the spacecraft's eight side and two end panels provide power to the scientific instruments and subsystems, which together require an orbit-average power of 250 Watts. In eclipse, spacecraft power is supplied by a Super Nickel-Cadmium battery.

Litton is one of the nation's leading shipbuilders for the U.S. Navy and the largest builder of non-nuclear ships. Litton designs, builds, and overhauls surface ships for government and commercial customers, worldwide.

The company is a leading information technology (IT) contractor to the U.S. government and provides specialized IT services to commercial customers and government customers in local/foreign jurisdictions. Litton provides defense and commercial electronics technology, components, and materials for customers, worldwide.

With headquarters in Woodland Hills, Calif., the company has more than 40,000 employees, and is expected to have more than $5 billion revenue. For more information, visit Litton's Web site at www.litton.com.