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BAE SYSTEMS 500th SPACE COMPUTER TAKES FLIGHT ABOARD NASA KEPLER SPACECRAFT

30 Mar 2009 | Ref. 057/2009

MANASSAS, Virginia — BAE Systems’ 500th radiation-hardened space computer has taken flight on a NASA mission to find habitable planets in the Milky Way. The RAD750® computer aboard NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is part of the company’s third generation of radiation-hardened single-board computers.

With 500 systems placed in orbit, BAE Systems is the leading provider of computers capable of withstanding the radiation, temperature, vibration, and other extremes encountered in space flight. The computer aboard the Kepler Mission controls the NASA spacecraft, managing its directional orientation and other functions, processing large volumes of scientific data, and running the software that keeps the satellite in orbit.

“We chose to use the RAD750 computer as the brain for the Kepler spacecraft based on our success with BAE Systems’ RAD6000® computer on the Spitzer Space Telescope and on the Deep Impact mission in 2005,” said John Troeltzsch, program manager at Ball Aerospace, NASA’s prime contractor for the Kepler Mission. “The RAD750’s radiation hardness will allow Kepler to survive in the harsh space environment for the long period needed to find planets.”

Kepler is NASA’s first mission to determine the statistical probability of Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of the Milky Way.

BAE Systems has been building radiation-hardened computers since the early 1990s. The latest version, the RAD750, was developed in 2001 through a partnership among BAE Systems, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “The program ensures that highly specialized, radiation-hardened components will continue to be available for future generations of U.S. space systems,” said Vic Scuderi, space computers manager for BAE Systems in Manassas, Virginia.

About BAE Systems

BAE Systems is the premier global defense, security and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support services. With approximately 105,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded £18.5 billion (US $34.4 billion) in 2008.

For further information, please contact:

Karen Spiller, BAE Systems
Tel: + 1 603 885 2818 Mobile: +1 603 566 2090
karen.spiller@baesystems.com

Shannon Smith, BAE Systems
Tel: +1 703 907 8257 Mobile: +1 703 967 3854
shannon.n.smith@baesystems.com