Serco Inc. has been awarded a new contract from the United States Space Force to manage, operate and maintain the Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) system — the contract has an eight-month base period and six one-year option years, with a total value of $57 million.
The GEODDS system supports the U.S. Strategic Command and theater war fighters’ requirements through the detection and surveillance of deep space satellites using one-meter telescopes that are equipped with highly sensitive digital camera technology. The GEODSS system detects, tracks, identifies and reports on all deep-space man-made objects in the Earth’s orbit. Both new objects that are discovered and objects already in the catalogue require regular observations in order to keep the orbit information accurate.
Under this new contract, Serco’s operators will be performing 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 (CSpOC), the National Space Defense Center (NSDC) and the 18th Space Control Squadron (SPCS); Serco operators will also be undertaking Space Object Identification tasks in support of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC).
Serco will provide operation and maintenance (O&M), along with exercise and testing, and mission systems maintenance including repairs, logistics management, civil engineering, and support depot modifications. Work will be performed at all three geographically-separated GEODSS locations in Socorro, New Mexico; Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT); and Maui, Hawaii.
Dave Dacquino, Serco’s Chairman and CEO, said 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. This win builds on Serco’s presence in the space domain, in particular the company's UK and Europe division, with its contracts in Earth Observation (EO) support services and spacecraft and satellite management.
Serco has extensive past performance experience supporting the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) under the AFSPC C4ISR and C4I2TSR contracts. Serco Group has supported space projects for more than 50 years. Today, the company has highly skilled scientific, technical and engineering teams supporting military and civilian space programs in Europe, the UK, Australia and now in the United States.