Curtiss-Wright Awarded Contract by the European Space Agency
For Rugged Data Handling technology used on the International Space Station
ASHBURN, Va. – Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW) today announced that its Defense Solutions division has received a contract from Kayser Italia S.r.l. through Astrium GmbH and the European Space Agency (ESA) to supply data handling equipment for use on the International Space Station. Under the agreement, Curtiss-Wright will provide its Acra KAM-500 data acquisition units for use on the International Space Station’s Advanced Closed Loop System (ACLS). The contract, valued in excess of $1 million, commenced in 2012 and is scheduled to conclude with the shipment of flight model units in 2015.
“We are very proud to partner with Kayser Italia, AirbusDS and the European Space Agency as a valued supplier of mission critical data handling subsystems to the International Space Station,” said Lynn Bamford, Sr. VP/GM, Defense Solutions division. “Curtiss-Wright’s proven space heritage and recent successes in space station applications, such as the SpaceX Dragon vehicle, led to our selection on this important program and we hope will lead to future opportunities in the growing commercial manned space sector.”
The ACLS will demonstrate novel European technologies on the International Space Station, and will eventually become part of its life support system, as the ACLS converts carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen. Two networked Acra KAM-500 units will be used to monitor sensors aboard the space station and will interface to the ACLS’s onboard avionics supplied by Kayser Italia S.r.l. The prime contractor for the ACLS is AirbusDS GmbH.
About Curtiss-Wright’s Acra KAM-500
Curtiss-Wright’s Acra KAM-500 is a compact, low-power data acquisition unit (DAU). It is driven by hardware finite state machines that provide reliable data acquisition for low earth orbit applications. Based on open architecture modular COTS hardware, the KAM-500 has a long heritage in space applications including experimental aircraft, launchers, re-entry vehicles and orbital platforms.
The Defense Solutions division will manufacture the products covered by this agreement at its Avionics Electronics business unit facility in Dublin, Ireland in a project supported by Enterprise Ireland. The products will be shipped to Kayser Italia S.r.l. in Livorno, Italy.
For more information about Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division, please visit www.cwcdefense.com. For more information about Avionics Electronics products, please visit www.cwc-ae.com.
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About Curtiss-Wright Corporation
Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE:CW) is a global innovative company that delivers highly engineered, critical function products and services to the commercial, industrial, defense and energy markets. Building on the heritage of Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers, Curtiss-Wright has a long tradition of providing reliable solutions through trusted customer relationships. The company employs approximately 9,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.curtisswright.com.
John Wranovics
Director of Public Relations
Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions
jwranovics@curtisswright.com
Mobile: (925) 640-6402
