Boeing

ST. LOUIS, April 24, 2008 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] today said it has finished installing the hardware for its Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) system's Satellite Operations Center (SOC). The SOC now has the necessary security certification to allow the SBSS program to begin integrated testing.

"The SBSS SOC will transform Space Situational Awareness by providing a gateway to a responsive, taskable sensor," said U.S. Air Force Col. James Jordan, commander of the Space Situational Awareness Group in the Space Superiority Systems Wing at the Space and Missiles Center in Los Angeles. "This capability is key to enabling the event-driven operations concept of the future."

The SOC is the operational command and control system for the SBSS mission. It will conduct mission planning, command satellites, manage satellite health and perform mission data processing. The system includes industry-standard commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software that can be maintained with minimum impact on operations. The SOC's highly redundant, open architecture also provides the flexibility to upgrade functionality and incorporate current and next-generation systems. The full functional build of the software has successfully demonstrated both command and telemetry processing with the SBSS space vehicle. The software is now in segment testing.

"We continue to meet all of our contractual milestones as our team continues to develop the Satellite Operations Center," said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager for Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems. "Its ability to respond takes us one step closer to true situational awareness of the United States' space assets."

Boeing has overall responsibility for the SBSS system and is developing the SBSS Ground System with Harris Corp. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory.