Lockheed Martin’s CSOC Announces Plans To Demo Satellite-Based HDTV Broadcast Capabilities at NAB Conference

Officials of Lockheed Martin’s
Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC) announced today that plans are
underway to support an Advanced Space Communications Demonstration at the
National Association of Broadcaster’s Convention being held in Las Vegas, NV
on April 23-26, 2001.

This demonstration, which is the first of its kind, will deliver High
Definition Television (HDTV) content and advanced multimedia applications from
a simulated International Space Station location to numerous sites across the
continental United States in a real-time, seamless manner.
To date, only NASA
has the capability to provide these global services via geostationary
Ku/Ka-Band satellites; NASA’s assets will be used in the demonstration. The
intent of the demonstration is to show that an application of NASA and
commercial assets can be used in a powerful combination to address a new
market — HDTV from space and global HDTV broadcasting.

“This demonstration will prove that a fully commercial system can enhance
NASA’s communications infrastructure and enable high data rate communications
to and from the Space Station,” said Dan Heimerdinger, director of CSOC’s
Office of Commercialization. “Not only can NASA benefit from this
state-of-the-art technology, but by opening up this capability to the private
sector, we open up the marketplace for high demand K-Band applications, such
as real time global HDTV broadcasts, which can be used in a virtually
unlimited number of applications.”

The offering of this technology to the commercial industry is in keeping
with a CSOC initiative to help NASA defray costs and improve support to manned
Shuttle and International Space Station missions through a variety of
commercial architectures. Under the CSOC contract, Lockheed Martin is
authorized to sell excess K-Band satellite capacity to commercial customers.

“This demonstration opens the door for potential commercial investment in
the forthcoming communications architecture that will bring the International
Space Station and scores of other locations to a computer and television near
everyone in the world,” said Martin Skudlarek, manager of Advanced Technology
for CSOC. “Additionally, new partnerships will spring from this platform whose
aspirations will be much less encumbered by technical constraints.”

A web site providing additional information on this technology and the
demonstration is located at http://www.csoconline.com.

Private industry is partnering with Lockheed Martin and NASA in this
initiative with over $3M of donated services and systems. Some of the
organizations contributing to this demonstration include Ampex Data Systems,
Bell Atlantic, Boeing Satellite Systems, Cisco Systems, Compaq Computer
Corporation, Cobalt Digital, Cylink Corporation, Dreamtime Holdings, Harmonic
Data Systems, K-Tech, Marconi Communications plc, Newtec America, Panasonic,
US Naval Research Laboratory, Qwest Communications International Inc,
Radyne-Comstream, and others.

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 and
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.

Lockheed Martin Space Operations (LMSO) is 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 System
Engineering and Integration, software and hardware development for both
government and commercial Customers; mission operations and planning systems
design and human life sciences research.