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TRW of Redondo Beach California has dreamt up a versatile new approach to
satellite manufacture (EP 849 167). Conventional spacecraft are built of
interconnecting modules which rely on each other—so individual parts of
the spacecraft cannot be changed once the design has been set. TRW will make
each module electrically independent of the others, so that they can be mixed
and matched by connecting them to a common wiring harness. Each module will have
its own cooling system. This means spacecraft designs can be altered at any
point during the year or more it takes to build a satellite.