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
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.