Comsat Labs' bid was selected from a large number of proposals, as part of the Technology Maturation Program under Exploration Systems Research and Technology (ESR&T), a Division of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate that is developing systems for space exploration to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

The contract award for a 12-month Phase 1 development is $3.7 million of which Comsat Laboratories as prime receives $2.3 million and the remaining $1.4 million is divided among NASA Glenn Research Center, Jet Propulsion Lab/California Institute of Technology, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and NASA Langley Research Center.

The SCT is a combination of software and hardware modules that emulate communication elements in remote surface platforms, planetary orbiters, relay satellites, earth orbit satellites, earth stations, and user clients.

NASA expects to use the SCT to test, validate, and optimize communication links, protocol stacks, operational parameters, and mission applications using time varying emulated channel characteristics and mission traffic profiles.

Later phases of the SCT program are planned to provide additional benefits by also serving as a vehicle for testing new and emerging communication technologies and as a platform for testing various mission operation scenarios.

"This program supports President Bush's vision for future space exploration. We are obviously very excited to be part of the technology development team to help NASA realize this vision," said Dr. Prakash Chitre, vice president and general manager of Comsat Laboratories.

Related Links
Comsat Laboratories
ViaSat
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express