New Guidance System from Saab Ericsson Space successfully flight qualified
New Guidance System from Saab Ericsson Space successfully flight qualified Early in the morning on September 27, the first NSROC/NASA scientific sounding rocket guided by the DS19 Guidance System, blasted off the launch rail at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The DS19 guided the rocket to the predetermined impact point with high accuracy. The DS19 is the fifth member of the Saab Ericsson Space family of guidance systems. It is an upgraded version of the frequently used S19 Guidance System. By this successful flight the DS19 is flight qualified. The DS19 is an autonomous guidance system giving very low rocket impact dispersion and highly accurate trajectories. The system is mounted as part of the payload, which means that it does not require any motor modifications. This is an important feature when looking for low price launch opportunities, used in disciplines like scientific sounding rockets and targets. It uses aerodynamic control surfaces to guide and control the rocket towards the desired impact point. The other members of the Saab Ericsson Space guidance system family are the GCS (control by means of thrust vectoring), the SPINRAC (exo-atmospheric control of spinning vehicles by means of gas jets) and the RACS (three-axis exo-atmospheric control by means of gas jets). The DS19 uses gyros and accelerometers to measure the rocket velocity, position and direction. This simplifies the launch operations and raises the flight trajectory accuracy significantly. In principal the predetermined impact point is put into the DS19 flight computer and the rest is handled by the system itself. The DS19 can easily be adapted to different rocket motors. Saab Ericsson Space is an independent supplier of space equipment. The company develops and manufactures computers, antenna systems, microwave electronics and guidance and separation system for launch vehicles, satellites and other spacecraft. The headquarters is located in Gothenburg, the Mechanical Products Division is at Saab in Linköping and there are subsidiaries in Austria and the USA, Saab Ericsson Space Inc. Of the company's 600 employees, more than half hold Master's or Doctor's degrees in technical fields. Saab Ericsson Space is jointly owned by Saab and Ericsson. For further information, please contact: Iréne Svensson, Communications Manager tel +46 31 735 44 63 Bengt Mörtberg, General Manager for Mechanical Products tel +46 13 18 64 06 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/10/01/19991001BIT00040/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/10/01/19991001BIT00040/bit0002.pdf