Andrews Space has announced that it has delivered avionics flight hardware to Aerojet for Bigelow Aerospace's Sundancer Aft Propulsion System.

Under a five month fixed-price contract, Andrews developed, flight-qualified and delivered, 20 propulsion system diode boards responsible for electromotive force protection within the Aerojet propulsion system. Aerojet is under contract to Bigelow to develop the integrated aft propulsion system on Bigelow's Sundancer human-tended space platform.

"We are extremely pleased that Aerojet selected Andrews for this important program," said Jason Andrews, President of Andrews Space.

"Our team has done a tremendous job to deliver the hardware under tight schedule and budget constraints consistent with the emerging commercial space sector."

Under a second contract, Andrews is developing the fault-tolerant propulsion controllers which will interface with the Bigelow Sundancer human-tended space platform and control individual propulsion system valves and heaters based on high-level commands received over an Ethernet communication bus.

The controller also performs fault-detection, islolation, and recovery based on propulsion system instrumentation. Delivery of the flight propulsion controllers is scheduled for Q1 2010.

The diode boards, along with the fault-tolerant propulsion controllers, are among the growing list of affordable and reliable avionics and attitude determination and control products offered by Andrews targeted toward responsive spacecraft applications.