Officials of Lockheed Martin announced today that the Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC) will, for the first time, begin providing commercial telemetry, tracking and commanding (TT & C) services to augment its current data acquisition capacity and improve the reliability of NASA's Ground Network. Use of these commercial TT&C services will allow CSOC to enhance the existing set of tracking and communications resources available to NASA without new capital investment by the US government. This fully supports NASA's intention to reduce operations costs by outsourcing operations services.

CSOC's recent completion of Operational Readiness Reviews with Kongsberg Spacetec-Lockheed Martin Space Data Services (KLM-SDS) and DataLynx (Honeywell TSI) on November 15-16 paved the way for the start of these commercial network services.

The purpose of the reviews was to demonstrate the readiness of KLM and DataLynx to provide commercial data services as fully operational elements of NASA's Ground Network, by augmenting the TT & C services CSOC currently provides.

"This has been a tremendous accomplishment for CSOC, DataLynx and KLM," said Dr. Doug Tighe, program manager for CSOC. "These capabilities were basically built from the ground up in a very short time and are now being integrated into the existing Ground Network, which is an extraordinary accomplishment by anyone's standards. We are confident that these expanded spacecraft ground network capabilities will enable us to provide superior, cost effective services to our customers."

KLM's antenna and tracking station is located on Svalbard Island, Norway, with a Network Operation Center based in Seabrook, Maryland. KLM demonstrated mission support readiness for the QuikScat and SAC-C satellites and provided successful testing for Landsat-7 (S-Band) and Terra (S-Band). KLM services will include S-Band Telemetry, Tracking and Command; X-Band Telemetry; temporary storage of downlink data (up to 72 hours); and voice/scheduling support.

DataLynx, located in Poker Flat, Alaska, and operated out of Columbia, Maryland, has demonstrated mission support readiness for QuikScat and Landsat-7 and provided successful testing for Terra (S-Band). DataLynx services will include S-Band Telemetry, Tracking and Command; X-Band Telemetry; X-Band Data recording for Landsat-7 and EO-1; temporary storage of downlink data (up to 72 hours); and voice/scheduling support.

CSOC has entered into these services agreements on a "per pass" basis with the two companies and will make these services available to its customer base through its product and services catalog. CSOC does not own the companies providing services or equipment, nor is it involved in their management or operations. Both tracking stations have been built using private investment.

While providing services to CSOC efforts, the two tracking stations are fully capable of providing similar services to other government agencies, international customers and other commercial spacecraft interests.

CSOC is a $3-billion-plus contract awarded by NASA to Lockheed Martin, who serves as the prime contractor to provide end-to-end space operations Mission and Data Services to both NASA and non-NASA customers. CSOC manages NASA's data collection, telemetry and communications operations that support Earth-orbiting satellites, planetary exploration, and human space flight activities. Services include data acquisition from spacecraft, data transmission to end-users, data processing and storage, ground and space communications, and mission control center operations.

CSOC is part of Lockheed Martin Space Operations (LMSO), a business unit of Lockheed Martin Technology Services headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. LMSO, a high-tech engineering and science services firm, employs about 4,000 engineers, scientists and support personnel. Services include managing CSOC; software and hardware engineering for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station; mission operations and planning systems design, development, and integration; and human life sciences research.

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin