ATK selected to provide Thermal Control Subsystem for DARPA ISIS airship

31st January 2011 - 10:28 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is moving forward with its Integrated Sensor is Structure (ISIS) programme with the awarding to ATK of a contract for the provision of thermal control subsystems.

On 25 January ATK announced that it had won the contract from Lockheed Martin, which was awarded the development contract for the ISIS programme in September 2006.

DARPA says the goal of the programme is to develop a stratospheric airship-based autonomous unmanned sensor, which operate at approximately 70,000ft. ISIS will provide the technologies ‘that enable extremely large lightweight phased-array radar antennas to be integrated into an airship platform’.

Tom Wilson, vice president and general manager, ATK Spacecraft Systems and Services, said the award is significant because it marks ATK’s first thermal award in the high-altitude, near-space defence market.

Two thermal systems are to be completed. ATK said the baseline design for both systems is a pumped two-phase fluid loop, which interfaces with large, lightweight radiator panels attached to the vehicle powerbay.

Work will be executed at ATK’s Beltsville, MD, facility.

In April 2009, DARPA selected Lockheed Martin as the systems integrator, and Raytheon as the radar developer, for Phase 3 of its ISIS programme, under a contract valued at just under $400 million. Lockheed Martin said it was to lead a team in the ‘design, build, test and flight-demonstration of a one-third scale airship featuring Raytheon’s new, low-power density radar’.

Plans called for the autonomous flight test system to be operated on station for 90 days, with a total demonstration of one year.

By Shephard staff