Under the award, Swales will design, build and test the Operationally Responsive Space Modular Bus for the TacSat-3 mission, which will demonstrate the ability of a tactical satellite to collect militarily useful data over a theatre of interest and provide that data direct to the war fighter in real- time.

The ORSMB program will demonstrate modular spacecraft bus standards, interfaces, and processes to meet the goals of the Department of Defense's Operationally Responsive Space initiative that seeks rapid, low-cost space assets launched to support the needs of tactical war fighters.

The work involves completing bus critical design, fabrication and integration of the bus, and providing support to AFRL for spacecraft integration and test, launch and on orbit operations.

"This contract award further cements Swales' leadership in the growing market for operationally responsive small and micro-satellites," said Mike Cerneck, CEO of Swales Aerospace.

"In selecting us, AFRL recognized several major strengths of our proposed system engineering approach and bus design," Cerneck added, "including an excellent accommodation of the Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging Spectrometer hyperspectral imaging sensor and other mission payloads on a bus providing good performance margins, thermal management, and pointing agility, as well as our excellent assembly, integration and test approach."

The TacSat-3 mission project is funded in part by the DOD's Office of Force Transformation and the Air Force Research Laboratory under Phase II of a four-phased approach to develop modular spacecraft buses, built to an emerging set of ORS bus performance standards.

AFRL/VS is leading the TacSat-3 mission development for a planned launch in 2007.

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