FLORENCE, ITALY – The sensor trim stellar A-STR by Finmeccanica – Selex ES drive the probe of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto, allowing Selex ES getting deeper into space.
The A-STR for New Horizons, the only Italian contribution to the US mission to study Pluto, allows the probe to orient themselves in space and transmit its data to Earth.
The A-STR has been integrated in the probe of NASA in 2004 and the version used in this mission includes both the operation of the apparatus during the rotation of the probe, during the cruise, and when the probe is firmly pointed toward the planet . The basic hardware used is similar to that of the trim sensor present on the Rosetta probe homonymous ESA mission.
The A-STR is produced at the plant in Campi Bisenzio Selex ES; since 2001 to deliver more than 100 star trackers in the world, with a prospect of more than 200 units by 2016.