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Lockheed Martin Space Interferometry Mission teams receives NASA
award

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 12, 2003 -- A NASA Group Achievement Award
has been presented to the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM)
metrology beam launcher development team, a collaboration between the
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Advanced Technology Center (ATC) and
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The award certificates,
signed by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, cite "outstanding
accomplishment in the development of a new class of picometer laser
metrology beam launcher, which will help enable the Space
Interferometry Mission." 

"We're very pleased and proud to be recognized for this
accomplishment," said Mike Margulis, Space Systems SIM program
manager. "Our beam launcher technology provides an accuracy two
orders of magnitude beyond the current state of the art, and will
most certainly contribute to the success of the SIM mission." The
Lockheed Martin members of the SIM metrology beam launcher
development team honored are: Larry Ames, Willy Anderson, Stephanie
Barrett, Robert Barrett, Ray Bell, Robert Benson, Gene Cross, Larry
Dries, Kalyan Dutta, Florence Escueta, Margaret Garcia, Dexter
Girton, Bau Ho, Todd Kvamme, David Leary, Roger Montross, Patrick
Perkins, Mark Scott, Timothy Van Eck, and John Woo.

The beam launchers enable measurement of the variation of 10-meter
optical pathlengths on SIM with accuracy in the tens of picometers.
For a sense of scale, a hydrogen atom is about 100 picometers in
size. The beam launchers use a technique called heterodyne
interferometry to measure optical path length with a beam of infrared
laser light. After reflection off of retroreflectors (corner cubes)
at the ends of the optical path, the laser light is returned to the
beam launcher where it is mixed with a reference signal to produce
the measurement of the variation in length of the optical path.

SIM, a major observatory in NASA's Origins Program, will be the
agency's first space interferometer designed specifically for
measuring the positions of stars. The ATC and JPL beam launchers are
crucial in providing exact information on the positions of the
telescopes, information that is fundamental in achieving the position
measurements of objects on the sky. The technique of interferometry,
as used on SIM, will combine the light waves from two sets of four
one-foot diameter telescopes arrayed across a 10 meter (33-foot)
boom. The combined light waves will "interfere" or blend together to
achieve position measurements on the sky with accuracies approaching
one micro-arcsecond. To place this in perspective, one
micro-arcsecond corresponds to the width of toothpick viewed from a
distance of 200,000 km (125,000 miles).

SIM's precision astrometry will allow scientists to look at the 100
or so nearest stars and determine, by inference, whether planets
accompany those distant suns. Just as the Moon exerts tidal forces on
the Earth, and the planets in our solar system cause the Sun to
wobble slightly from side to side, a planet circling another star
will cause it to jiggle in its orbit. 

SIM will not have the sensitivity to detect directly a planet
orbiting a nearby star, because its reflected light would be far too
faint. Instead, using precise positional measurements, SIM will be
able to measure a star's wobble -- a telltale perturbation that would
herald the presence of one or more planets orbiting the star. Using
SIM's precision optics, planets that range in size from Uranus to
Jupiter will be easily detectable, and even a small planet the size
of Earth could be inferred around a star up to 30 light years away.

SIM is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is one of the major operating
units of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Space Systems designs,
develops, tests, manufactures, and operates a variety of advanced
technology systems for military, civil and commercial customers.
Chief products include a full-range of space launch systems,
including heavy-lift capability, ground systems, remote sensing and
communications satellites for commercial and government customers,
advanced space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft, fleet
ballistic missiles and missile defense systems. 

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global
enterprise principally engaged in the research, design, development,
manufacture, and integration of advanced-technology systems,
products, and services. The Corporation's core businesses are systems
integration, space, aeronautics, and technology services. Employing
more than 125,000 people worldwide, Lockheed Martin had 2001 sales
surpassing $24 billion. 

NOTE TO EDITORS: Low- and high-resolution JPEG image files of SIM are
available at the following URL:

For more information about Lockheed Martin Space Systems, see our
website.

March 2003
03-10

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