News Article
NASA to use Philips smart card chip
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected Philips Electronics advanced MIFARE DESFire contactless chip technology to enable secure smart card access to its facilities. The smart cards will be deployed to agency employees and contractors for immediate identity authentication. Philips says that its MIFARE DESFire V0.6 is the first chip solution currently compliant with the US Government Smart Card Interoperability Specification (GSC-IS).
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected Philips Electronics advanced MIFARE DESFire contactless chip technology to enable secure smart card access to its facilities. The smart cards will be deployed to agency employees and contractors for immediate identity authentication. Philips says that its MIFARE DESFire V0.6 is the first chip solution currently compliant with the US Government Smart Card Interoperability Specification (GSC-IS).
The NASA smart card system integrator is MAXIMUS. The move shifts NASA from the low-frequency (125kHz) to industry-standard ISO 14443 technology. Different US government agencies using a GSC-IS compliant physical access system will have the option to allow each other's physical access cards to work in different secure areas.
A field trial is planned at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama this summer, with potential expansion to 2000 employees. If the trial is successful and approval is secured from the Office of Management and Budget, NASA plans to deploy more than 100,000 smart cards before the end of its 2005 fiscal year. This number includes cards for contractors and government employees.
