Article Posted on : - Jun 18, 2010

NASA’s Tracking Data and Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation.

SCOTTSDALE (BNS): NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has awarded an approx $642.2 million contract to General Dynamics C4 Systems for its Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment (SGSS) project.

Under the seven year contract, the company will modernise the ground system and network for NASA’s Tracking Data and Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation. The period of performance of the contract is from June 21, 2010, through June 20, 2017.

General Dynamics is assigned as a prime system integrator for the SGSS project. It will implement a new ground-system architecture which ensures that the space network will continue to provide global space-to-ground telecommunications and tracking coverage for low-Earth orbit and near-Earth space flight missions.

“As we modernise this critical national asset, the focus of our team’s efforts is ensuring that the NASA Space Network continues the highly-reliable service it has delivered for nearly three decades,” John Weidman, vice president of National Systems for General Dynamics C4 Systems, said in a company news release.

The SGSS project will mainly focus on the integration, testing and operational transition. The new system will be implemented without interrupting the ongoing operations of the space network, which supports all NASA scientific and human space flight missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station (ISS).

The project which has flexible, extensible and scalable system will also expand the capabilities needed for future space missions by accommodating larger quantities of data with expanded coverage at greater distances.

The SGSS project will be completed at the General Dynamics headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona and at its SpacePlex facility at New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Research Park in Las Cruces, New Mexico.