TriDAR – a bread-boxed sensor that helps spacecraft "see" other objects in space – will be installed on the Cygnus commercial spacecraft for its first flight, scheduled in late 2011.
Neptec will provide 13 TriDAR systems for the tests, which are supposed to run until about 2015. Financial details were not disclosed.
"The automated rendezvous and docking sensor is a key technology in the Cygnus spacecraft mating with the International Space Station," said Mike Kearns, Neptec's vice-president of space exploration.
"The last thing anyone wants to have happen is an approach coming too close to the ISS."
Like space companies worldwide, Neptec has been working to change its focus as the shuttle retires and NASA shifts into providing transportation services through agreements with commercial providers.
Cygnus is a robotic spacecraft being jointly developed by Thales Alenia Space and Orbital Sciences Corp. and is one of two types that is slated to make test supply runs to the station. SpaceX's Dragon is the other one.
At one time, the shuttle used to make up 80 per cent of Neptec's revenues, according to a previous OBJ interview with president Iain Christie.
Today, business in rovers and other applications has made up the difference, Mr. Kearns said. The company just went through a period of aggressive hiring mainly in relation to its Juno rover, which it is testing out this summer at sites similar in nature to the moon or Mars.
Until its retirement, the shuttle was the main ferry to bring equipment up to the station; Neptec, a prime contractor with NASA since 1995, developed a tracking laser-based system that helped the shuttle dock with the International Space Station.
However, the older "vision" system required its "mate" in space to have special reflectors that the system could see.
TriDAR has three-dimensional mapping capabilities and performed successfully in three tests on shuttle missions in August 2009, April 2010 and the one that just landed on Thursday.
The strength of the system is its compatibility with other applications, Mr. Kearns pointed out. A slightly modified version helps helicopters see through the dust when landing in desert areas.
Rovers, another growth area for Neptec, can use the system to navigate around rocks in front of them.
"We're always moving towards making improvements; all of our customers like to see sensors that are smaller, less mass, cheaper," Mr. Kearns added.
