Lockheed Martin [LMT] on Aug. 11 broke ground on two new facilities that will cost some $24 million at its Space Systems Company operations in Newtown, Pa., that will support spacecraft programs for government and commercial customers.

A 15,000-square-foot multi-purpose conference center will handle large-scale meetings such as design reviews, demonstration initiatives and customer events. The new meeting facility will accommodate up to 250 people and offers users the ability to subdivide the space into separate meeting rooms as well as enjoy state of the art audio visual and IT equipment.

A 17,000-square-foot addition will be constructed at the west end of the facility’s Product Team Building (PTB) to expand Lockheed Martin’s satellite manufacturing capability. The addition will house a near-field antenna range, a new passive inter-modulation (PIM) chamber, and a new antenna assembly clean room. In addition, product holding and fixture preparation areas are planned.

Both projects will be certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. LEED provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction and LEED certified buildings typically use resources more efficiently when compared to conventional buildings.

Several dignitaries participated in the groundbreaking ceremony, including government and military officials.

Lockheed Martin’s Newtown facility employs about 1,200 people and serves as the headquarters for Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS) and the next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) III and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series (GOES-R) programs.

LMCSS has delivered 37 communications satellites based on the A2100 platform to customers worldwide. The GPS III and GOES-R programs were awarded to Lockheed Martin in May 2008 and July 2009, respectively.

“This expansion signifies Lockheed Martin’s long-term commitment to our partnership with Newtown Township and to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” LMCSS Vice President and General Manager Marshall Byrd said.

“Our new conference center will enable us to better serve our customers around the world, and our manufacturing expansion will facilitate assembly, integration and test of essential GPS III components.”

The facility also builds components for Lockheed Martin government programs such as the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system, which will provide global, highly secure, protected, survivable communications for warfighters operating on ground, sea and air platforms, and the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), which will greatly expand the capacity of UHF communications and aid the military as it increasingly relies on more agile and mobile forces.

The Newtown facility is part of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC), a major operating unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation. LMSSC designs and develops, tests, manufactures and operates a full spectrum of advanced-technology systems for national security and military, civil government and commercial customers. Chief products include human space flight systems; a full range of remote sensing, navigation, meteorological and communications satellites and instruments; space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft; laser radar; ballistic missiles; missile defense systems; and nanotechnology research and development.