Lockheed Martin’s Consolidated Space
Operations Contract (CSOC) announced today a successful demonstration of its
OpStar prototype, unveiled during NASA Johnson Space Center’s Inspection 2000
held November 1-3, 2000.
This new state-of-the-art mission services delivery
approach promises significant mission operations cost reduction by delivering
mission operations capabilities, such as spacecraft commanding and control,
over the Internet as commercial services.

OpStar technology allows scientists to access scaleable hardware and
software solutions over the Internet and literally command their spacecraft
safely from anywhere, using laptop computers or handheld devices, instead of
being tied to large computing centers.
Scientists can also mix and match
services from numerous providers spanning the full spectrum of mission
services, from planning and scheduling to science data delivery.

“We are pleased to be able to demonstrate this exciting use of new
commercial technology,” said Dr. Douglas Tighe, Lockheed Martin’s Program
Manager for CSOC.
“OpStar basically allows us to conduct satellite
transmissions through a unit no larger than a hand-held calculator.
This
ability to condense our communication applications can play an increasingly
important role in the way space network transmissions are conducted in the
future.”

The real-time demonstration of OpStar took place on Johnson Space Center’s
Campus using a laptop computer and a wireless handheld device to send
real-time commands to the WIRE spacecraft.
CSOC employed a small business,
Banywhere, to provide wireless application development support.
Two of CSOC’s
Data Services providers, Honeywell’s Datalynx division
(http://www.honeywell-tsi.com/DataLynx/welcome.htm) and Universal Space
Network (http://www.uspacenetwork.com), provided space/ground connectivity to
the WIRE spacecraft.
Two other CSOC technology partners, Compaq and Sun
Microsystems, provided client and server computing platforms for the
demonstration.

Lockheed Martin Space Operations, a business unit of Lockheed Martin
Technology Services headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, is a high-tech
engineering and science services firm employing more than 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.