Motorola Communication Equipment to Complete Vital Link between Earth and the International Space Station.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 2000 Upcoming sixth space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank. mission to ISS ISS See Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). will make advanced S-Band communication equipment operational. Motorola (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :MOT) Wednesday announced the upcoming launch of the last link in the communication system that assures voice and data commands are transmitted and received between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS). Mission 4A, with a five-member STS-97 crew, is scheduled to lift off in the Space Shuttle Endeavour on Nov. 30. Motorola's S-Band telemetry telemetry Highly automated communications process by which data are collected from instruments located at remote or inaccessible points and transmitted to receiving equipment for measurement, monitoring, display, and recording. and control transponders will be on board. The Endeavour crew plans to activate the S-Band communication once it is interfaced with the Motorola assembly and contingency baseband signal processor (ACBSP ACBSP American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians ACBSP Association of Collegiate Business Schools & Programs ACBSP Assembly Contingency Baseband Signal Processor ) that was launched Oct. 11, 2000 on Space Shuttle Discovery. Oron Schmidt, communications and tracking systems manager for NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. , said the Space Station will use the S-Band for low data rate communication to provide an operational data link for commands, telemetry and voice between the Mission Control Center in Houston and the ISS. High data rate capability supplied by Motorola's advanced communication equipment will be installed on the ISS early next year. This Ku-Band communication system will eventually allow the transfer of scientific data and video from the research conducted on the ISS Laboratory module to Earthbound earth·bound also earth-bound adj. 1. Fastened in or to the soil: earthbound roots. 2. a. investigators and science experts participating in NASA's efforts to advance the growing field of Telescience. "What hasn't been done in space before is the transmission of High Definition TV (HDTV (High Definition TV) A set of digital television (DTV) standards that offer the highest resolution and sharpest picture. Although some HDTV sets are available in standard (rather square) screen sizes, the overwhelming majority of sets are wide screen, which eliminates ) images. These pictures will come directly into the High Rate Frame Multiplexer and High Rate Modem provided by Motorola and will be transmitted over Ku-Band link to Earth," Schmidt said. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Microgravity mi·cro·grav·i·ty n. 1. An environment in which there is very little net gravitational force, as of a free-falling object, an orbit, or interstellar space. 2. Research Program Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the original home of NASA, is a lead center for propulsion, Space Shuttle propulsion, Shuttle external fuel tank, crew training and payloads, International Space Station (ISS) design and construction, for computers, networks, and in Huntsville, Ala., ISS crew members will be able to observe experiments in space. That means it will not be necessary to physically return all research to Earth for analysis before running the next experiment in space. One future area of research on ISS that will benefit from high rate advanced communication enabled by Motorola could help researchers develop new drugs. An associate director of the Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering located at the University of Alabama at Birmingham UAB began in 1936 as the Birmingham Extension Center of the University of Alabama. Because of the rapid growth of the Birmingham area, it was decided that an extension program for students who had difficulties which prevented them from studying in Tuscaloosa was needed. , Dr. Marianna Long said the technology is called structure-based drug design which involves a careful study of the protein structure of some diseases' targets. The molecules of these proteins in a crystal form take on a high-quality, three-dimensional structure in the near-weightlessness of space that has been giving researchers a much better view of the structure of these molecules. "We have been growing high-quality crystals for the study of proteins in space since 1985 on 38 different missions. We are now developing technology that will one day enable science experts on Earth to look at these crystals as they are growing in space to increase their knowledge about the structure of the proteins which could lead to the development of new drugs," said Long. The center in Birmingham is one of NASA's 10 Commercial Space Centers run by the Research Program Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Motorola's high data rate communication equipment (Ku-Band) equipped with 12 channels for video and payload data, is to be brought up to the Space Station by the STS-102 crew (Flights 5A.1). That mission is scheduled for February of 2001. Schmidt concluded, "Within a year, NASA hopes to fly HDTV cameras on a Space Shuttle to the International Space Station and transmit real time video to Earth." Providing the vital communication link for U.S. space missions spanning more than 40 years, Motorola supplies space communications subsystems for near-Earth and deep space missions for government and commercial customers. Motorola Inc. is a global leader in providing integrated communications solutions and embedded electronic solutions. These include software-enhanced wireless telephone, two-way radio, messaging and satellite communications products and systems, as well as networking and Internet-access products, for consumers, network operators, and commercial, government and industrial customers. Sales in 1999 were $33.1 billion. Motorola and the Motorola logo are registered trademarks of Motorola Inc.,(R)Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. All other companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. (c) 2000 Motorola Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
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