TRW-Built Lewis Launched Successfully; Experimental NASA Satellite Blazes New Trails.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 25, 1997--NASA's first Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative (SSTI) satellite, the TRW-built Lewis, has been successfully deployed in a circular orbit 300 kilometers above the Earth following its launch by a Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle-1.

The satellite was launched on Aug. 22 at 11:51 p.m. (PDT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Over the next few days, Lewis will be raised to its final 517 kilometer, sun-synchronous orbit using the satellite's on-board propulsion system.

Carrying some 40 new technologies, Lewis is an experimental satellite designed to demonstrate technologies to speed development and trim costs of putting next-generation civil and commercial space missions into orbit. TRW utilized advanced design techniques, streamlined processes, commercial practices, new qualification methods and cutting-edge technologies to meet NASA's goals for the development of Lewis.

The satellite was finished in just two years, from contract award to launch readiness.

"Having an operational Lewis satellite fulfills a commitment that TRW and our partners made to NASA. Lewis represents the 'can do' attitude of all the people who made this challenging program a reality," said Timothy Hannemann, executive vice president and general manager of TRW's Space & Electronics Group. "We're eager to provide scientific data gathered by Lewis' state-of-the-art instruments as soon as feasible."

Lewis' payload includes two hyperspectral imagers (HSI) that will demonstrate the utility of collecting hyperspectral data from space. A TRW-built hyperspectral imager will look at a narrow swath of the Earth in 384 spectral bands, while the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) built by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center will look at a wider field of view in 256 spectral bands.

Lewis' third instrument, an extreme ultraviolet spectrometer built by the University of California at Berkeley, will take images of the night sky and the cosmic background.

TRW Space & Electronics Group, with headquarters in Redondo Beach, has built more than 190 communications, scientific and military spacecraft; produced, integrated, and tested more than 130 payloads; developed more than 200 advanced space instruments; and integrated some 550 experiments into spacecraft. The group is an operating unit of Cleveland-based TRW Inc.

TRW Inc. provides advanced technology products and services for the automotive and space and defense markets worldwide. The company's 1996 sales were approximately $10 billion.

CONTACT: TRW Inc., Redondo Beach

Sally Koris, 310/812-4721