European space electronics designers choose Curtiss-Wright data handling for Space Station
ASHBURN, Va., 20 March 2015. European space experts needed data handling equipment for use on the International Space Station. They found their solution from the Curtiss-Wright Corp. Defense Solutions division in Ashburn, Va.
Curtiss-Wright won a contract from Kayser Italia S.r.l. in Levorno, Italy, to supply the Curtiss-Wright Acra KAM-500 data acquisition units for use on the International Space Station's Advanced Closed Loop System (ACLS).
The space electronics contract came from Kayser Italia through Astrium GmbH in Paris and the European Space Agency (ESA) headquarters in Paris. The contract, worth more than $1 million, started in 2012 and Curtiss-Wright should be finished after in 2015 after shipping flight model units.
The Space Station's ACLS will demonstrate European technologies, and eventually will become part of the station's life support system. The ACLS converts carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen.
Two networked Acra KAM-500 units will monitor sensors aboard the Space Station and will interface to the ACLS's onboard avionics supplied by Kayser Italia S.r.l. The prime contractor for the ACLS is Airbus Defense & Space in Toulouse, France.
Related: EaglePicher supplies space battery power for International Space Station
The Curtiss-Wright Acra KAM-500 is a compact, low-power data acquisition unit (DAU). It is driven by hardware finite state machines that provide data acquisition for low Earth orbit applications.
Based on open architecture modular COTS hardware, the KAM-500 has a long heritage in space applications including experimental aircraft, launchers, re-entry vehicles and orbital platforms.
The Defense Solutions division will manufacture the products covered by this agreement at its Avionics & Electronics business unit facility in Dublin, Ireland. The products will be shipped to Kayser Italia S.r.l. in Livorno, Italy.
For more information contact Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions online at www.cwcdefense.com, or Kayser Italia at www.kayser.it.
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.
