Boeing looks to Curtiss-Wright to provide data-handling avionics for space transportation system

April 1, 2015
ASHBURN, Va., 1 April 2015. Spacecraft designers at the Boeing Co. needed data-handling avionics for the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft that Boeing is building for NASA. They found their solution from the Curtiss-Wright Corp. Defense Solutions division in Ashburn, Va.

ASHBURN, Va., 1 April 2015. Spacecraft designers at the Boeing Co. needed data-handling avionics for the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft that Boeing is building for NASA. They found their solution from the Curtiss-Wright Corp. Defense Solutions division in Ashburn, Va.

Officials of the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment in Houston are asking Curtiss-Wright to provide data-handling equipment to gather data from critical vehicle sensors used by the on-board computers to make decisions during flight.

The Boeing CST-100 spacecraft will provide transportation for as many as seven passengers or a mix of crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit destinations such as the International Space Station (ISS) and the Bigelow planned station. Curtiss-Wright also provides data handling systems for payload applications on the ISS.

Curtiss-Wright finished the first phase of the data-handling job last summer, and now will complete development, qualification, and certification of the data handling avionics system along with delivery of the first production units.

The shipments of flight models will begin in 2015 and the CST-100 is scheduled to undergo orbital test flights in 2017. Curtiss-Wright will provide Boeing with the CST-100's remote analog interface unit (RAIU) based on the company's Acra KAM-500 data handling avionics equipment.

Related: Boeing completes parachute test of CST-100 crew capsule

The RAIU will gather data on the status and health of critical spacecraft systems during all phases of the mission. Curtiss-Wright's Avionics & Electronics business unit in Dublin, Ireland is designing and manufacturing the products covered by this agreement.

The Boeing CST-100 spacecraft will provide transportation for up to seven passengers or a mix of crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit destinations such as the International Space Station (ISS) and the Bigelow planned station. Curtiss-Wright also provides data handling systems for payload applications on the ISS.

For more information contact Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions online at www.cwcdefense.com, or Boeing Defense, Space & Security at www.boeing.com/space.

About the Author

John Keller | Editor

John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.

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