Northrop Grumman reports that its Scalable Space Inertial Reference Unit (Scalable SIRU) has been selected as the inertial reference unit of choice for Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems satellite platforms.

Under the terms of a strategic agreement between Boeing and Northrop Grumman, the Scalable SIRU will be included as part of the baseline design for Boeing satellites over the next two years.

"Northrop Grumman's Scalable SIRU provides outstanding performance that plays an important role in mission success and features the space proven reliability needed for the wide variety of Boeing missions," said Susan Sloan, vice president of space systems for Northrop Grumman's Navigation Systems Division.

The Scalable SIRU is the industry standard for high-precision, long-life attitude control solutions supporting commercial, government and civil space missions. Northrop Grumman's Scalable SIRU and its predecessor, the space inertial reference unit (SIRU), supply critical rotation rate data for use in satellites and space vehicles for stabilization, pointing and attitude control.

Northrop Grumman's Scalable SIRU was recently launched aboard the Boeing-built SkyTerra 1 next-generation mobile communications satellite and is performing as part of the satellite's attitude control system.

At the heart of the Scalable SIRU is Northrop Grumman's patented hemispherical resonator gyro (HRG) technology, which has operated in space without a mission failure for over 16 million hours since the product first entered service in February, 1996.

Installed in Northrop Grumman's space qualified inertial reference units, the HRG has been used in commercial, government and civil space missions for domestic and international customers and has been launched aboard more than 100 spacecraft. HRG missions include earth observation, communications and science applications in low earth orbit, geostationary and deep space mission profiles.

The HRG combines high performance with the longest life of any inertial technology now in space. It has no moving parts and its simple design, small size, low noise output and high radiation tolerance make it an ideal gyro for extended space missions.