TRW Completes Software Development Validation Facility Phase I; Will Improve Quality, Reduce Costs Of Earth Observing Spacecraft.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 30, 1998--TRW Inc. has completed construction of a critical tool that will be used to improve the quality and reduce the risk associated with the development of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Common Spacecraft program.

The Software Development Validation Facility (SDVF) Phase I, finished last month, provides a generic tool which will be used to validate and verify all the EOS spacecraft avionics and software. Funded by TRW, the SDVF consists of two components -- a common bus engineering model testbed and a software development facility.

"This facility is a tremendous tool to ensure all program requirements have been met and that the spacecraft functions as designed," said Brooks Vogt, TRW's EOS program manager. "We'll be able to wring out problems long before we start the integration and test of flight hardware, speeding development time and controlling costs.

"This facility will be used for the EOS spacecraft, but it can also be used in the future to validate similar spacecraft programs. The SDVF represents TRW's commitment to earth science missions," Vogt added.

The SDVF's Phase I engineering testbed includes a complement of spacecraft avionics/electronics and electrical harnesses, integrated to reduce risk and support the verification and validation of EOS spacecraft flight software. All necessary support equipment is also a part of the SDVF facility to exercise and test spacecraft flight software in a realistic environment.

The support equipment includes simulators, such as the solar array simulator, battery simulator, sensors and actuators simulator, and the spacecraft vehicle dynamic simulations.

The engineering testbed has four on-board computers, a redundant electrical power subsystem, and guidance, navigation and control engineering model electronics which consist of more than 40 slices of electronics, more than 500 connectors and more than 4300 wires.

This SDVF Phase I facility will address software/hardware interface verification, polarity issues, system timing issues, engineering model electronic design validation, subsystem performance, fault management validation and interaction testing.

TRW is building two low-Earth-orbiting satellites and integrating five to seven NASA-provided Earth-observing instruments on each satellite under the EOS Common Spacecraft program. The satellites are based on a common or standardized bus design that can accommodate the instruments needed to perform the different EOS missions, and are designed for launch on Delta-class vehicles.

The first spacecraft, EOS-PM, will focus on climate-related measurements of the Earth's atmosphere, cloud cover, precipitation, terrestrial snow cover and sea ice. Its six-year mission is scheduled to begin in December 2000. The satellite began being constructed earlier this year.

The second satellite, EOS-Chemistry, which also has a six-year mission life, will measure the abundance and transportation of a variety of chemicals in the Earth's atmosphere. It is scheduled for launch in December 2002.

EOS is the centerpiece of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a long-term coordinated program to study the Earth as a single, global environment. Earth science data is already being used to study the connections among the Earth's air, water, land and life. EOS will greatly expand its scope, with benefits ranging from improved long-term weather forecasting to improved management of our agricultural resources.

TRW Space & Electronics Group builds communications, scientific and defense spacecraft; produces, integrates and tests payloads; develops advanced space instruments; and integrates experiments into spacecraft.

It is an operating unit of TRW Inc., which provides advanced technology products and services for the automotive, space and defense, and information technology markets worldwide. TRW's 1997 sales totaled nearly $12 billion (including the recent BDM acquisition).

CONTACT: TRW Inc., Redondo Beach

Sally Koris, 310/812-4721