Applied Technology Associates (ATA)
Overview
Applied Technology Associates (ATA) is a small business with operating sites in New Mexico, Maryland, Alabama, and various Air Force bases and missile testing sites around the United States. The company was founded in 1975 and has received awards in business, aerospace hardware, and space hardware. ATA manufactures optical inertial reference units (IRUs), fast-steering mirrors (FSMs), laser communications hardware, angular rate sensors, seismometers and accelerometers. The company offers technical services in engineering, technology development, mission integration, acquisition, tracking, pointing, and general system testing. ATA has received awards and contracts from both the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) and the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL).
Optical IRU
In 1999, ATA began work with NASA to develop their first optical IRU. Since then, ATA has built 12 additional optical communication platforms. After demonstrating an effective solution to IRU problems with near-Earth FSO communication methods, ATA moved on to addressing deep-space optical communication problems.