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Press Release
For Release: IMMEDIATE
Media Contact:
Gayle Manculich
Phone: (412) 967-7477
Email:
gayle.manculich@l-3com.com
BRASHEAR LP WINS
CONTRACT TO DESIGN AND CONSTRUCT KEPLER SPACE
TELESCOPE OPTICAL ASSEMBLIES
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, April 4, 2003:
Brashear LP has received a multi-million dollar
contract from Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of
Boulder, Colorado for the design and fabrication of
large space optical assemblies for NASA's Kepler Space
Telescope.
Kepler, a NASA
Discovery mission, is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, with the technical and science leadership
provided by NASA's Ames Research Center. This space
telescope is designed to detect Earth-like planets
orbiting stars beyond our solar system. Scheduled to
launch in 2007, Kepler will search for planets using a
specialized 1-meter aperture telescope called a
photometer. The photometer will measure the small
changes in brightness of a star caused by the transits
of planets as they pass the line-of-sight between the
parent star and the earth.
Over a four-year
period, Kepler will continuously view an amount of sky
approximately equal to the size of a human hand held
at arm's length or equivalent in area to two "scoops"
of the sky made with the Big Dipper constellation. In
comparison, the Hubble Space Telescope can view only
the amount of sky equal to a grain of sand held at
arms length, and then only for about one half-hour at
a time.
"Brashear is extremely
pleased to have been selected by Ball Aerospace for
the design and fabrication of the optical assemblies
for the Kepler Space Telescope," said JB Barentine,
Business Transformation and Development, Brashear LP.
"The Kepler Space Telescope is an important scientific
mission answering one of the fundamental questions
asked by humans: Is there another planet that could
support life?"
"Brashear has built
optics for space many times in the past, and we are
elated that Ball Aerospace and NASA have selected us."
said Andrew Clarkson, Optics and Telescope Product
Line Manager. "We produced other space optics similar
to those to be used on Kepler for the Defense Support
Program (DSP) Satellites that orbit the earth at
approximately 22,000 miles altitude, and use infrared
sensors to sense heat from missiles and booster plumes
against the Earth's background. Bottom line, it is
great to be back in space in such a big way."
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Recognized for world-class optics technology,
L-3 Brashear designs and produces complex electro-optical and
electro-mechanical systems and instrumentation for the
commercial and defense markets. The company delivers
proven, accurate, and reliable products from concept
through design, manufacture, test and life cycle
support. These systems are based on core skills in
precision motion systems, advanced design, analysis
and fabrication technology.
For more information
about L-3 Brashear, visit www.L-3Com.com
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