The Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Micro Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., needed considerable computer power for its Autonomous Nanosatellite Guardian Evaluating Local Space (ANGELS) satellite program.

The organization turned to Space Micro Inc. in San Diego and its Proton200k computer to provide engineering design and development support.

AFRL issued Space Micro an award for the ANGELS Phase 3 Option, which spans from the preliminary design review (PDR) through the critical design review (CDR)-August 2006 through August 2007. After completion of the CDR, the Air Force will pursue a follow-on contract for production of a prototype flight unit.

The Proton200k computer is a radiation-hardened computer, based on a 6700-class digital signal processor from Texas Instruments, which offers protection via Space Micro’s patent-pending Time-Triple Modular Redundancy approach and H-Core technology.

Space Micro is part of a team led by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC) in Littleton, Colo., that also includes Space Dynamics Laboratory, a division of the Utah State University Research Foundation of Logan, Utah; the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory of Cambridge, Mass.; and Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems and Solutions (LMIS&S) in Valley Forge, Penn. For more information, visit www.spacemicro.com.