Space Micro to fabricate and market Qinetiq's Merlin space weather detection system
TUCSON, Ariz., 18 July 2008. Officials at Space Micro Inc., of San Diego announced this week that they are teaming with Qinetiq in Farnborough, United Kingdom., to sell each other's space capabilities in their home markets.
Space Micro officials made the announcement at the 2008 IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference, in Tucson, Ariz., at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort.
Qinetiq's U.K. space business and its Belgian-based subsidiary Verhaert Space will act as routes to market for Space Micro, principally in Europe. Space Micro products that Qinetiq will market include the Proton series of space qualified single-board computers/processors that have been delivered to customers including NASA, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, and the U.S. Air Force. Space Micro provides radiation-hardened microelectronics and electronic systems principally for the satellite market.
In return, Space Micro has rights to fabricate and market Qinetiq's Merlin space weather hazard detection system in North America. Merlin is a small, low-power system that provides continuous data on hazards that affect space weather to equipment onboard satellites and other spacecraft. It recently flew on the European Space Agency's (ESA) Galileo test-bed satellite vital information for the final development of Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system.
"Merlin is an excellent addition to the portfolio of products we offer to the North American market," says David Czajkowski, chief operating officer and chief technical officer of Space Micro. "The sophisticated instrumentation used on communications satellites and other spacecraft is increasingly vulnerable to space weather. Merlin provides early diagnosis of unexpected events and allows corrective measures to be taken quickly and effectively."
"Space Micro applies innovative approaches to the challenges of designing electronics for the space environment," says Paul Smith, chief operating officer of Qinetiq's U.K. space business. "Their expertise compliments our own and ensures their solutions achieve levels of performance that will be extremely attractive to the European space industry."
The teaming agreement also acts as a framework for future technical cooperation on the development of next generation trams comprising scientists from both companies.
