Government services firm Serco Inc. has won a new contract from the U.S. Space Force to manage, operate and maintain the Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance system.
The contract has an 8-month base period and six 1-year option years, with a total value of $57 million.
“This is an exciting new win for Serco in supporting the U.S. Space Force and their GEODSS systems as it goes through upgrades and expansions,” said Dave Dacquino, Serco Inc. chairman and CEO. “This win builds on Serco’s presence in the space domain, in particular our UK & Europe division with its contracts in earth observation support services and spacecraft and satellite management.”
The GEODDS system supports the U.S. Strategic Command and theater warfighters’ requirements through the detection and surveillance of deep space satellites using 1-meter telescopes equipped with highly sensitive digital camera technology.
GEODSS detects, tracks, identifies and reports on all deep-space manmade objects in the Earth’s orbit. Both new objects discovered and objects already in the catalogue require regular observations to keep the orbit information accurate.
The contract calls for Serco’s operators to perform space observation, including operating the telescopes, maintaining and supporting the systems, and logging and reporting the findings in support of the Combined Space Operations Center, the National Space Defense Center and the 18th Space Control Squadron, among other tasks.