Aug 6 2010
Northrop Grumman has designed a full-scale replica of the Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite, to be exhibited at the USAir Force Base’s National Museum at Wright-Patterson, Ohio, to mark the satellite’s phenomenal and dependable performance for a period of 40 years.
The replica, whose length is 35 feet, includes the combination of the Structural Test Model (STM) with an infrared sensor trailblazer section, minus the electronic elements.
The model was completed in the month of May and hauled via a C5 aircraft to the museum, crammed in the original satellite’s container. It was designed as a wrap up operation, for the Air Force’s DSP Production contracts.
According to the Space Systems Division’s General Manager and Sector Vice President, David Dicarlo, the company considered it a great dispensation that the Air Force had acquiesced to display the replica of the DSP satellite, thereby paying a tribute to the satellite’s steady and unrelenting work during the past 40 years, providing exceptional mission analysis data.
John Johnson, (ISR System Division) Northrop’s General Manager and Sector Vice President, stated that the infrared sensor for the primary DSP Mission, was built in the Azusa facility in California, and that this display was a great cachet.
A $206 million contract was granted to Northrop Grumman in 2008, to furnish technical aid to the DSP satellite with the primary Infrared sensor and mission analysis, valid for five, one year periods.
The Premier DSP, was introduced in 1970 and the most recent satellite in 2007, with several upgrades in technology in between, to encounter and take care of the increasing threats in the world. Thus the DSP satellites have proved to be highly dependable with an additional 184 satellite years than the regular orbital period.
Northrop Grumman Corp, with a vast workforce of 120,000 workers, supplies radical solutions in the fields of aerospace, electronics, shipbuilding and also technical services to commercial clients and governmental bodies, all over the world.
Source: http://www.northropgrumman.com