European Space Agency, NASA contractors deploy 15,000 Microsemi space products on Rosetta spacecraft mission

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., 18 Nov. 2014. Officials at Microsemi Corp. (Nasdaq:MSCC), a provider of semiconductor solutions, reveal that more than 15,000 of the company’s reliable space products -- including FPGAs, diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits (ICs) – have been and continue to be used in mission-critical applications over the 10-year, four-billion-mile Rosetta Spacecraft mission by the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA, and technology partners. Microsemi products, included in several avionics and platform functions built by multiple ESA contractors, continue to support the mission as it conducts a wide variety of research. The Microsemi products supporting the mission, they add.

"Microsemi has had the privilege of providing high-reliability semiconductor solutions for leading edge space programs more than 55 years," says Microsemi Chairman/CEO James J. Peterson. "We are proud that our technology plays a role in this mission and salute the European Space Agency, NASA, its partners and all of the individuals who made the mission a success."

After serving the space industry for more than five decades, Microsemi continues to develop new products and technology for future missions as part of its broad portfolio of radiation-hardened and radiation-tolerant space products, including FPGAs, ASICs, RF components, diodes, transistors, MOSFETS, hybrids, power supplies, custom semiconductor packaging, and integrated power distribution systems. These solutions expand the company's ability to cater to the needs of a growing spacecraft market, officials say.

"We expect 1,200 new spacecraft of 50Kg mass or larger to be launched within the next 10 years," says Marco Caceres, senior analyst and director of space studies for the Virginia-based Teal Group consulting firm. "This represents 20 percent growth in the number of spacecraft in this mass category over the preceding 10 years."

Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq:MSCC) offers a portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for communications, defense & security, aerospace, and industrial markets. Products include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, setting the world's standard for time; voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. Microsemi is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., and has approximately 3,400 employees globally.