Andrews Space has announced that it has signed a contract with Aerojet of Sacramento, CA to develop aft propulsion system controllers for Bigelow's Sundancer spacecraft.

Sundancer will be the third inflatable prototype orbited by Bigelow Aerospace and the first designed to be human tended. Aerojet is under contract to Bigelow Aerospace to provide the aft propulsion system, capable of three-axis attitude control and a controlled de-orbit maneuver.

Under the 18 month effort, Andrews will develop, test and deliver three ship sets of custom electronic controllers to Aerojet responsible for commanding the aft propulsion system thrusters and propulsion system elements.

"Bigelow's human tended orbiting facilities are a building block of a space faring society," said Jason Andrews, President of Andrews Space. "We are delighted to be working with Aerojet on this pioneering project."

Andrews and Aerojet have a long history of working together on NASA, DOD and commercial projects.

Andrews and Aerojet have previously collaborated on the DARPA FALCON, NASA's Ares launch vehicle, and NASA cargo logistics development programs, as well as other DOD initiatives. In addition, Andrews previously delivered reaction wheels for Bigelow's Galaxy II spacecraft to provide spacecraft attitude control.

"We look forward to building our relationship with both our Aerojet and Bigelow customers as well as leveraging our expertise in systems engineering, electronics design and rapid prototyping," continued Andrews.