The command awarded Viasat an initial $115 million task order to design, deploy and expand the center. The order falls under a competitively awarded indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with a $450 million ceiling.
The Mission Operations Center will serve as the ground hub for the Space Data Network Backbone, part of the command’s Space-Based Sensing and Targeting portfolio. Viasat will bring the network and mission systems together so operators can manage data traffic across multiple satellite constellations from one place.
The network is designed to deliver secure, high-speed connections with minimal delay and to let operators redirect traffic in real time as mission priorities change. Linking systems from several providers is intended to reduce the risk that a failure in one part of the network could disrupt communications.
“The MOC establishes the mission operations layer needed to integrate the diverse space data transport and space exchange systems being developed across related efforts,” said Space Force Lt. Col. Alexa Eggert, the program’s materiel leader. “By bringing the systems together in one place, it positions us to deliver a more integrated mission capability across multiple constellations and systems.”
The project builds on two earlier delivery orders involving Amazon LEO for Government, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Rocket Lab and York Space Systems. Space Systems Command is using an open architecture so systems from different suppliers can work together on the same network.
Golden Dome is intended to connect sensors, command systems and defensive weapons to detect, track and defeat advanced missile and aerial threats. The Space Force says the new center will help combine data from different sensors more quickly for homeland defense.
