Motorola Transponder Provides New Communications Technology for Deep Space 1 Mission.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 27, 1998--On board NASA's Deep Space 1 (DS1) spacecraft, launched on a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station on Oct. 24, is high reliability, radio frequency communications equipment jointly designed and developed by Motorola's Systems Solutions Group and the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Deep Space 1 is designed to validate 12 new technologies for scientific space missions of the next century. The goal is to make spacecraft smaller, less expensive and more autonomous. Among the experiments aboard is an ion propulsion engine strikingly similar to those described in futuristic science fiction novels.

Also being validated is software that tracks celestial bodies so that the spacecraft can make its own navigation decisions without the intervention of ground controllers.

The Deep Space 1 spacecraft is carrying Motorola's newest technology in tracking, telemetry, and control (TT&C) transponders, the Small Deep Space Transponder (SDST). The SDST provides the only communications link between the spacecraft and the numerous terrestrial tracking stations that comprise NASA's Deep Space Network.

This transponder is a major technological leap over Motorola's previous generation of X-Band TT&C deep space transponders, which were used to transmit all the data and images to and from the Earth for the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), Mars Pathfinder, and Cassini-Huygens missions.

The SDST combines many separate functions performed by other spacecraft telecommunication systems into one integrated unit with less than half the mass.

In addition to the transponder function, the new design includes the functions previously performed by the Command Detector Unit (CDU), which extracts data commands from the uplink signal to control the spacecraft, and the Telemetry Modulation Unit (TMU), which processes data from the scientific instruments and formats this data for downlink transmissions.

In addition to X-Band communications, this transponder has the ability to use a Ka-Band radio frequency, which will improve the efficiency of Deep Space Network communications in the future.

New technologies, including multichip modules, radio frequency integrated circuits, and digital signal processing, were utilized to achieve the increased performance while significantly reducing mass. A microprocessor and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) were utilized to provide design flexibility so that this transponder could be simply reprogrammed in software for future spacecraft missions.

"Deep Space 1 is the first step of many within the New Millennium Program, allowing future spacecraft to decrease in size, weight and cost, and increase in self-sufficiency. Our long-standing relationship with JPL continues to allow Motorola to significantly contribute to NASA's improvements in the space industry," stated Ron Taylor, vice president and general manager of Motorola's Space Systems and Services Division.

Motorola (NYSE:MOT) is a global leader in advanced electronic systems and services. It liberates the power of technology by creating software-enhanced products that provide integrated customer solutions and Internet access via wireless and satellite communications, as well as computing, networking, and automotive electronics.

Motorola also provides essential digital building blocks in the form of embedded semiconductors, controls and systems. Sales in 1997 were $29.8 billion.

For more technical information on Motorola's Small Deep Space Transponder, please visit NASA's New Millennium web site at http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1/tech/transponder.html.