TRW signs $75-million contract to begin joint development of Republic of Korea lightweight satellite.REDONDO BEACH Redondo Beach (rĭdŏn`dō), city (1990 pop. 60,167), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1892. Once a commercial port for Los Angeles, it is a residential and resort city with a protected harbor and an excellent marina. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 27, 1995--TRW Space & Electronics Group has signed a $75-million contract with Korea Aerospace Research Institute The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is the aeronautics and space agency of South Korea. Its main laboratories are located in Daejeon, in the Daedeok Science Town. Current projects include the KSLV launcher. Past projects include the 1999 Arirang satellite. (KARI KARI Kenya Agricultural Research Institute KARI Korea Aerospace Research Institute KARI Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute (Uganda) ) to begin jointly developing with KARI and Korean industry a multipurpose mul·ti·pur·pose adj. Designed or used for several purposes: a multipurpose room; multipurpose software. multipurpose Adjective lightweight satellite. The new Korea Multipurpose Satellite (KOMSAT) will carry scientific and communications payloads. In ceremonies held March 27 at the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology in Seoul, South Korea, Tim Hannemann, executive vice president and general manager of TRW's Space & Electronics Group, signed the 52-month contract on behalf of TRW TRW The Real World (TV reality show) TRW The Right Way TRW Tactical Reconnaissance Wing TRW The Retriever Weekly (University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD) TRW Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc . The signing marks the successful conclusion of negotiations between TRW and KARI which have been underway since TRW was selected to negotiate for the rights to develop KOMSAT. ``We're very pleased at the outcome of these important negotiations and look forward to working closely with KARI and our Korean industry partners to bring KARI's first joint development satellite project to a successful conclusion,'' said Hannemann. ``It also marks another important step forward in our strategic thrust to expand TRW's presence in Asia Pacific telecommunications- related markets.'' Hannemann noted that KOMSAT is just the latest of several TRW ``wins'' in Asia Pacific markets in the past year. Last April, TRW was selected to build ROCSAT-1, the first spacecraft in the Republic of China's (ROC) new civilian space program. Then last August, he added, the company signed a letter of intent to provide 1 million television signal descrambling units for Beijing Cable TV Network. Under terms of the KOMSAT contract, TRW engineers will be joined by about 50 KARI and Korean industry engineers to design, develop and build some of KOMSAT's hardware components at TRW's Space Park facility in Redondo Beach. Other satellite components will be built by Korean industry partners. TRW and Korean engineers will check out engineering models of the hardware on an electrical engineering electrical engineering: see engineering. electrical engineering Branch of engineering concerned with the practical applications of electricity in all its forms, including those of electronics. model test bed at TRW. KOMSAT is based on TRW's lightweight, standardized spacecraft bus adapted to fit KARI's specific mission requirements. The baseline 880-pound (400-kilogram) lightsat is slated to carry a low-resolution, charge-coupled-device (CCD CCD in full charge-coupled device Semiconductor device in which the individual semiconductor components are connected so that the electrical charge at the output of one device provides the input to the next device. ) camera supplied by TRW for ocean and earth resources monitoring, and three science instruments. The list of proposed science instruments includes a high-energy particle detector particle detector, in physics, device for detecting, measuring, and analyzing particles and other forms of radiation entering it. Such devices play an important role not only in basic research, as in the study of elementary particles, but also in numerous , a sensor to measure the Earth's magnetic field Earth's magnetic field (and the surface magnetic field) is approximately a magnetic dipole, with one pole near the north pole (see Magnetic North Pole) and the other near the geographic south pole (see Magnetic South Pole). and a sensor to measure the ionosphere ionosphere (īŏn`əsfēr), series of concentric ionized layers forming part of the upper atmosphere of the earth from around 30 to 50 mi (50 to 80 km) to 250 to 370 mi (400 to 600 km) where it merges with the magnetosphere, the region . The KOMSAT contract also provides KARI with several funding and development options. The options include: the development of a 10-meter-resolution CCD camera, which would be used to map the earth's geographic features, and would be provided by Litton Itek Optical Systems; development of software for the KOMSAT ground station in Taejon, South Korea; and the integration of a Ka-band mobile communications payload into the spacecraft. TRW will train Korean engineers to assemble, integrate and test a protoflight model satellite at Space Park. KARI will then assemble, integrate and test the flight model at KARI facilities in Taejon with TRW support. No launch vehicle or launch site has yet been announced. TRW will provide two months of initial operations and flight support in Taejon after KOMSAT is launched in 1999. The Republic of Korea spacecraft will have a minimum lifetime of three years and will be placed in a 685-kilometer, sun-synchronous orbit. TRW Space & Electronics Group, with headquarters in Redondo Beach, has built more than 180 communications, scientific and defense spacecraft; produced, integrated and tested more than 130 payloads; developed more than 200 advanced space instruments; and integrated some 550 experiments into spacecraft. It is an operating unit operating unit A type of operating company that engages in transactions with outsiders and that is owned by another business. For example, in 1995 the stockholders of Capital Cities/ABC approved a $19 billion merger with the Walt Disney Company, whereupon of TRW Inc., which provides advanced technology products and services for the automotive, space and defense and information markets. TRW Inc.'s 1994 sales totaled $9.1 billion. CONTACT: TRW Inc., Redondo Beach A. Brooks McKinney, 310/814-8177 |
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