The military?s latest advance in battlefield imaging will get its power from a major component manufactured locally by Alliant Techsystems, with the company set to deliver the system to the military in the next few days.
Greenbelt-based Alliant, also known as ATK, created the “bus” for the military?s Tactical Satellite 3, a state-of-the-art imaging satellite set for launch next summer. The TacSat-3 will allow troops on the ground to quickly communicate with and retask the satellite to provide real-time ground images, said Tom Davis of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
“A war fighter will be able to retask the satellite, have the image processed, and see it in real time ? in less than 10 minutes,” Davis said. “It?s a very important ability we?re going to be able to demonstrate.”
The bus will form the back end of the satellite, including the solar panels, power systems and telemetry systems connecting ground control with the satellite, said Paul Connors, ATK program manager for the project.
Images of the component were not available due to the classified nature of the project, said Tracy Imm, ATK vice-president of communications.
A team of about 20 ATK employees created the bus in about 15 months, Imm said, far faster than previous systems.
Connors said the quick turnaround was made possible with a new approach to design and construction.
Similar systems have take as long as two or three years and hundreds of millions of dollars to create, he said. But the TecSat-3 bus was pushed quickly through the design phase and built with readily available parts, rather than using components still under development themselves. The project also cost far less than earlier designs, though Connors declined to specify an exact amount.
“We found a ?catalog? part that would work,” he said. “We didn?t try to optimize a design. We found a solution that was good enough, and moved forward.”
Davis said the satellite, once launched, will be put to immediate use by troops in the field.
“If they had this right now,” he said, “they?d be using it.”
