Maxar Technologies‘ SSL subsidiary has selected Northrop Grumman to provide a navigation system for integration into a satellite constellation.
Northrop said Thursday it will supply the Scalable Space Inertial Reference Unit designed to support a space vehicle’s attitude control and sensor pointing/stabilization functions through the contract with SSL.
Scalable SIRU is built for commercial, government and civilian space operations such as NASA‘s Cassini and Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging and Cassini missions.
The navigation system features Northrop’s hemispherical resonator gyro that has logged more than 40 million operating hours in space, the company noted.