ROSELAND, N.J., 15 March 2007.Boeing Advanced Systems has selected Expand Networks' Compass platform for testing and optimizing voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) and telemetry data for satellite networks to support the Orbital Express demonstration mission.
Orbital Express is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program to demonstrate autonomous on-orbit satellite servicing capabilities.
The Orbital Express mission is planned for launch in March 2007 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Orbital Express consists of Boeing's Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations (ASTRO) servicing spacecraft and Ball Aerospace's NextSat, a prototypical modular next-generation serviceable client satellite.
Astro's telemetry data is designed to be downlinked from the spacecraft to either the NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) or the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) where it is backhauled onto the Orbital Express Ground Operations Network consisting of three T-1 lines. This data must be distributed to all sites in near real-time in order to ensure Mission Operations coordination and accuracy.
