[Satellite TODAY 12-17-09] Northrop Grumman has been selected by NASA to supply a scalable space inertial reference unit for its Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, Northrop Grumman announced Dec. 16.
    The inertial reference system supplies rotation rate data that enables the stabilization, pointing and attitude control of satellites and space vehicles. For the GPM mission, the scalable unit will be installed on NASA’s GPM Core Observatory satellite.
    The Core Observatory, which will serve as the reference standard for precipitation estimates from other GPM constellation spacecraft, is scheduled to be launch July 21, 2013.