NRO Spysat GeoLITE Launch Delayed Until May 18

SPACEMART

GeoLITE, an advanced technology demonstration satellite, is the first mission for TRW's T-310 satellite bus, a new lightweight, highly stable platform capable of a range of missions.

Redondo Beach - May 16, 2001
Officials have delayed the Boeing Delta II launch of the GeoLITE spacecraft by 24 hours to no earlier than Friday, May 18 with the launch window of 1:07 p.m. EDT as a precautionary measure so the launch team can replace three flexible hoses on the rocket's first stage engine.

During testing of another Delta II first-stage engine at the Boeing Rocketdyne factory in California, a leak was found in a similar hose. The delay will allow the launch team at Cape Canaveral to replace suspect lines and test them prior to flight.

Friday's mission is scheduled to take place during a 79-minute launch window that opens at 1:07 p.m. EDT and closes at 2:26 p.m. EDT. The Air Force weather officers have reported a 20 percent chance of weather in the local area impacting a launch attempt on either Friday or Saturday.

GeoLITE, or the Geosynchronous Lightweight Technology Experiment, is a TRW-built spacecraft that will be operated by the National Reconnaissance Office once in orbit. The satellite has a laser communications experiment and an operational UHF communications mission.

GeoLITE is the first mission for TRW's T-310 satellite bus, a new lightweight, highly stable platform capable of a range of missions. TRW has system integration responsibility for GeoLITE, including the satellite development, integration and preparation for launch.

The satellite was designed and built in 3 1/2 years using streamlined program methodologies.

"We're very proud that the NRO entrusted its GeoLITE program to TRW," said Tim Hannemann, president and CEO of TRW Space & Electronics. "Through a rigorous development process that included use of our new T-310 bus and application of evolving commercial processes, we have provided our customer an outstanding experimental communications satellite."

TRW's T-310 modular bus design provides flexible capability for a variety of applications, including geostationary communications and weather observation missions, as well as planetary missions. The design features common subsystems scalable to the mission-specific needs.

Instrument payloads can be attached on a "mix and match" basis without changes in the overall design or subsystem support requirements. Weighing less than 1,500 pounds and equipped with 1.2 kilowatts (end-of-life) of electric power, the T-310 bus for GeoLITE is built of lightweight composite materials that allow for increased instrument weight and reduced launch costs.

TRW's GeoLITE program team initiated several innovative commercial process improvements throughout the development of the spacecraft, including a small project team, modular assembly and test, streamlined business practices and Web-based documentation.

These process improvements enabled less costly spacecraft design, shortened the integration and test schedule and facilitated program execution.

TECH SPACE

Orbiting Earth In Search Of Failure

Huntsville - Jan. 27, 2001
It's a mission where failure will be success -- and that's exactly what NASA engineers are hoping for. They anticipate failures in six experiments on the NASA Space Radiation Electronics Testbed, a payload now orbiting Earth aboard the Space Technology Research Vehicle-1-d. The satellite was launched Nov. 15 on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.

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