BlueHalo wins $1.4 billion contract to upgrade U.S. satellite control network

BlueHalo赢得14亿美元合同，升级美国卫星控制网络

WASHINGTON — The Space Rapid Capabilities Office awarded BlueHalo a $1.4 billion eight-year contract to add communications capacity to the ground network used by the U.S. military to command and control its satellites.

太空快速能力办公室授予BlueHalo公司一份价值14亿美元的8年合同，为美军用于指挥和控制卫星的地面网络增加通信能力。

The Space RCO, a U.S. Space Force organization that procures and manages classified space systems, announced May 24 that BlueHalo was awarded a so-called other transaction authority contract — a type of cooperative agreement used by the government to speed up projects. The contract is for the project known as satellite communications augmentation resource program.

5月24日，负责采购和管理机密太空系统的美国太空部队组织Space RCO宣布，BlueHalo公司获得了一份所谓的其他交易授权合同，这是政府公司用于加快项目进度的一种合作协议。该合同被称为卫星通信增强资源项目。

BlueHalo is a privately owned defense and intelligence contractor based in Arlington, Virginia.

BlueHalo是一家私人拥有的国防和情报承包商，总部位于弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿。

The satellite communications augmentation resource program will “address the critical U.S. Space Command requirement to rapidly, responsively and affordably augment satellite control capacity for the satellite control network,” said the Space RCO.

太空RCO表示，卫星通信增强资源项目将“解决美国太空司令部的关键需求，以快速、响应和负担得起的方式增强卫星控制网络的卫星控制能力”。

The satellite control network, or SCN, includes the ground stations and tracking antennas the U.S. military relies on to communicate with its satellites. The systems are decades-old and short of the capacity needed to keep up with the projected growth in space activities, officials said.

卫星控制网络(SCN)包括美军用来与卫星通信的地面站和跟踪天线。官员们说，这些系统已经使用了几十年，无法跟上太空活动预计的增长速度。

BlueHalo will use electronically steerable phased array antennas to increase the communications capacity for satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

“BlueHalo”将使用电子制导相控阵天线，以增加地球同步轨道卫星的通信能力。

There are seven SCN sites located in the United States and around the world. About 15 large dish antennas at these sites are used to command and control more than 190 military and government satellites in multiple orbits.

在美国和世界各地有七个SCN站点。这些站点大约有15个大型碟形天线，用于指挥和控制多个轨道上的190多个军事和政府卫星。

The SCN’s remote tracking stations monitor the position of satellites and control spacecraft propulsion, thermal and other systems. Because the legacy antennas can only talk to one satellite at a time, they have limited capacity to transmit and receive telemetry, tracking and command data.

SCN的远程跟踪站监测卫星的位置，并控制航天器的推进、热和其他系统。由于传统天线一次只能与一颗卫星通话，它们传输和接收遥测、跟踪和命令数据的能力有限。

The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit and the Space Systems Command over the past two years have looked at options to replace the existing parabolic antennas with modern electronic phased arrays that can maintain contact with multiple satellites across different orbits and frequency bands.

在过去的两年中，五角大楼的国防创新部门和空间系统司令部一直在研究用现代电子相控阵取代现有的抛物线天线的方案，这种天线可以与不同轨道和频段的多颗卫星保持联系。

The program last year was transferred to the Space RCO.

该项目去年被移交给太空RCO。