ITT Wins 7 NASA Strategic Missions Concept Study Awards

(White Plains, N.Y., February 28, 2008) -- ITT's Space Systems Division has been awarded seven NASA strategic missions concept studies. The space agency periodically conducts these studies to determine future astrophysics missions and technology-development funding.

"ITT has been supporting NASA missions for more than 50 years," said Chris Young, president of ITT Space Systems Division. "We're very honored to participate in such an integral part of space research and hopeful that NASA will eventually select one of our studies for a future mission."

ITT's awards include the Generation-X study, which focuses on developing a successor mission to Chandra - ITT's large x-ray telescope that was launched in 1999 and is still operational. The new telescope will be more sensitive to light and be able to capture higher resolution images.

In another study, ITT seeks to increase capabilities of the already-proposed Energetic X-Ray Imaging Survey Telescope. The newest version would allow users to image an object two different ways - one via visible imaging and one by x-ray. This is particularly helpful when analyzing black holes and other spatial matter.

The Cosmic Inflation Probe study, another ITT entry, helps scientists understand the origins of the universe by studying "rapid inflation" - the development of the universe since its creation. ITT will develop the conceptual design for the telescope during this study.

The other four studies can be classified as Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) missions. NASA will select one TPF concept for a future mission: Actively-Corrected Coronagraph for Exoplanet System Studies; Dilute Aperture Visible Nulling Coronagraph Imager; Pupil-mapping Exoplanet Coronagraphic Observer; and eXtrasolar Planet Characterizer.

Source : ITT Corporation

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