Volume 10, Number 3 • May/June 2002 • Aerospace Technology Development

Advanced Technology Concept Selected for Test Flight

In this artist’s concept, a space vehicle responds to gravitational forces.

NASA’s New Millennium Program has selected two organizations to lead the work on sensor and thrust-producing technologies to control a space vehicle’s flight path so that the payload responds only to gravitational forces.

The Disturbance Reduction System technology is scheduled to fly in 2006 as the Space Technology 7 project. Space Technology 7 is designed to test and validate advanced technologies for future use on NASA missions.

The total NASA funding for Space Technology 7 is $62.6 million. The technology providers are Stanford University of Stanford, CA and Busek Company Inc. of Natick, MA. Stanford University will provide a highly sensitive gravitational reference sensor that will measure the position of a spacecraft with respect to an internal freely floating mass. The Busek Company will provide a set of miniature ion thrusters capable of controlling spacecraft position with extremely fine precision.

“The Disturbance Reduction System is a promising new technology that will pave the way for future space observations of gravitational waves, giving us a whole new eye on the universe,” said Anne Kinney, director of the Astronomy and Physics division, Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters.

The New Millennium Program was created in 1994 to identify, develop and flight-validate advanced technologies that can lower costs and enable critical performance of science missions in the 21st century. The program is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA for NASA’s Office of Earth Science and Office of Space Science. Q

For more information, contact Dr. William Folkner at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 818/354-0443, William.Folkner@jpl.nasa.gov. Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

NASA Official: Jonathan Root • Web Design: Printing & Design Office, NASA Headquarters • Credits