BAE Systems' Radiation-Hardened Computers, Recorders Head for Planet Mercury
Posted on: Wednesday, 1 September 2004, 06:00 CDT
Sep. 1--MANASSAS, Va. -- BAE Systems' radiation-hardened RAD6000 computers and solid-state recorder assemblies have headed for the planet Mercury.
The successful Delta II rocket launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Aug. 3 marked the beginning of a 4.9-billion-mile, 6.5-year journey to Mercury. The spacecraft Messenger -- the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury -- will study the planet's geologic history and overall structure.
"NASA and Johns Hopkins University scientists are trying to understand the formation of Earth and other planets," said Laura Burcin, BAE Systems Messenger program manager, in a prepared statement. "Our RAD6000s and solid state recorders will support that mission." BAE Systems' Information & Electronic Warfare Systems, based in Nashua, builds the RAD6000 high-performance 32-bit Reduced Instruction Set Computer that operates in the heavily radiated space environment.
BAE Systems' computers and recorders provide onboard computing and data storage for the instruments and spacecraft control functions aboard Messenger.
Following a route that includes two fly-bys of Venus, Messenger should reach Mercury by March 2011. During its yearlong orbit, Messenger will provide the first images of the entire planet and collect detailed information on the composition and structure of Mercury's crust, its geologic history, the nature of its thin atmosphere, active earth-like magnetosphere, and the makeup of its core and polar materials.
The RAD6000 is one of a family of radiation-hardened protected computers developed and produced by BAE Systems in Manassas, Va., with the support of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
BAE Systems' microprocessors are also aboard two of NASA's successful missions this year: the Mars Rovers "Opportunity" and "Spirit," which landed on the Mars in January carried the RAD6000, and the Cassini spacecraft, which entered Saturn's orbit June 30, was guided by the Advanced Spaceborne Computer Module.
The newest member of the processor family, the RAD750, will be used on NASA' s Deep Impact mission, which is designed to look closer at a specific comet and scheduled to launch later this year.
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BAESY,
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