Air Force Extends Plug-and-Play Spacecraft

Posted by timothy on Saturday December 5, 2009 @05:07PM from the can-we-get-an-analogy-upgrade? dept.

coondoggie writes "Looking to build strategic satellites in days if need be, rather than months, the Air Force is pushing forward with what it calls plug-and-play spacecraft. This week it awarded a $500,000 order to Northrop Grumman to begin designing the plug-and-play spacecraft 'bus' which will offer standard interfaces for a variety of payload components, much like a laptop computer that immediately recognizes new hardware when it's plugged in, Northrop stated. The order was awarded under a contract that has a ceiling of $200 million."

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here's a crazy question by ChipMonk · 2009-12-05 18:43 · Score: 3, Insightful

Could it be too much to ask, that this bus conform to an openly-specified standard, e.g., Wishbone?

I'm not saying it has to be Wishbone. I'm just thinking that it might be nice to avoid re-inventing the wheel. This could also have the side-effect of lowering the cost to the government (and the taxpayer who actually pays for it).