Command Decoder, Microelectronic Hybrid, Milstar Communications Satellite

This artifact is a signal processing device designed for use in the first generation of Milstar military communications satellites.

To meet weight and space constraints on the spacecraft, the design achieved complex function in a small size by the use of layering. Beneath the visible surface of electrical devices and connections are four additional conducting layers (and eight non-conducting layers). The buried conducting layers provide additional pathways for connecting the electrical devices on the hybrid's top layer. The completed hybrid is an ingenious puzzle in which nearly one hundred chips and devices are integrated through more than two thousand connections. The gold-colored wire pins on the sides of the case connect the hybrid to a circuit board or electronic device.

This design represented the state of the art in miniaturization for such hybrids as of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Lockheed Martin donated this artifact to the Museum in 1998.