Meggitt Safety Systems Provides Cable Assemblies for NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft.SIMI VALLEY Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. , Calif. -- Cable assemblies built by Meggitt Safety Systems are on board the New Horizons mission spacecraft - the first mission of NASA's New Frontiers program NASA's New Frontiers program is a series of medium-cost (not to exceed 700 million USD), highly focused scientific space missions. This program was spawned off the highly successful Discovery Program. of medium-class planetary missions - that launched Jan. 19, 2006. Meggitt's cable assemblies are installed on the spacecraft's high-gain antenna The high-gain antenna (HGA) is an antenna with a focused, narrow radiowave beam width. This narrow beam width allows more precise targeting of the radio signal - also known as a directional antenna. assembly, used to carry signals to and from forward mounted medium and low-gain antennas to the transmitter/receiver inside the spacecraft. The HGA HGA High-Gain Antenna HGA Handweavers Guild of America HGA Hammel Green and Abrahamson HGA Hercules Graphics Adapter HGA Homogentisic Acid HGA Honor Guard Academy HGA Holy Guardian Angels (Reading, PA catholic church) is a seven-foot diameter dish, situated outside the spacecraft. The New Horizons mission is the first reconnaissance mission to Pluto, the outermost out·er·most adj. Most distant from the center or inside; outmost. outermost Adjective furthest from the centre or middle Adj. 1. of the nine official planets of the solar system. The Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), located in Laurel, Maryland, is a not-for-profit, university-affiliated research center employing 4,000 people. built and operates the half-ton grand piano sized spacecraft and is managing the mission for NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. . As Pluto is too far from the sun for the spacecraft to tap solar energy, it will draw power from an on-board nuclear generator which uses 24 pounds (ll kg) of plutonium pellets as fuel. Flying at unparalleled speeds of up to 47,000 miles per hour, it will take the craft nearly ten years to reach Pluto. It will take radio transmissions of data from the spacecraft about four hours and 25 minutes to reach earth in 2015. Scientists say the mission must be carried out before 2020 because, after that date, Pluto will be too far from the sun and its atmosphere will be frozen. The craft will explore Pluto and its large moon, Charon, and, continuing on a trajectory away from the sun, will probe additional icy and rocky bodies of the Kuiper Belt as part of a possible extended mission.
Editor's Notes:
1) Meggitt Safety Systems develops and produces several unique
product lines including advanced fire and smoke detection
systems for aircraft, silicon dioxide insulated cables for RF,
fire hazard, aerospace and nuclear applications, nuclear power
plant dissolved gas sensors and analyzers and modular actuators
prepackaged to meet a variety of applications.
2) Headquartered in the United Kingdom, Meggitt PLC (LSE:MGGT) is
an international group operating in North America, Europe and
Asia. Known for its specialized extreme environment
engineering, Meggitt is a world leader in the aerospace,
defense and electronics industries.
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