The Aerospace Corporation Presents Top Award
to GPS Expert Anthony Abbott

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (9/22/05) -- Anthony S. Abbott has received The Aerospace Corporation’s highest award, the Trustees’ Distinguished Achievement Award, for “sustained contributions to terrestrial navigation for military applications and to GPS/Inertial Ultra-Tight Coupling.”

Ultra-Tight Coupling is a revolutionary concept that provides significant improvements—up to 43 percent—in jam resistance for the Global Positioning System, or GPS.

The award was presented today by Ruth L. Novak, chair of the awards subcommittee of the board of trustees, during a convocation at the company’s headquarters in El Segundo, Calif.

Abbott, a principal engineer in the company’s Navigation Division, has gained an international reputation over a 40-year career dedicated to the advancement of navigation technology for civilian and military applications.

Besides being recognized for advancing land navigation capabilities for the military and helping make GPS more jam resistant, he was cited for contributions to

• the integration and test of the Apollo guidance, control and navigation system
• early stages of GPS user equipment development
• the B-2 stealth bomber stellar-inertial navigation system, including world-wide gravity compensation
• the incorporation of GPS as a navigation aid on the B-2
• the development of innovative concepts for the integration of the B-2 bomber navigation system with the radar and weapons systems

Also at the convocation, President and CEO Dr. William F. Ballhaus Jr. presented President’s Achievement Awards to three employees and members of two teams.

Accepting individual awards were William Deacon for “outstanding sustained contributions to the federally funded research and development center contract management and corporate operations,” Dr. Stuart Melzer for “more than a quarter of a century of technical contributions, sustained leadership, and exceptional dedication to national security,” and Millard Spillar for “outstanding sustained contributions to national-security infrared space systems development.”

Drs. Eric Johnson and Yong Kim were recognized for “the timely development of nondestructive evaluation methods for composite solid rocket motor nozzles crucial to launch- readiness verification” and Drs. Robert Pan and Chung-Chu Wan were recognized for “their contributions in resolving solar array anomalies for national-security programs.”

The awards convocation is held annually to recognize exceptional achievements that advance the nation’s space and defense capabilities.

The Aerospace Corporation is an independent, nonprofit company that provides objective technical analyses and assessments for national security space programs and selected civil and commercial space programs in the national interest.