L3Harris Technologies [LHX] said that it has received two contracts worth up to $134 million under the U.S. Space Force’s Maintenance of Space Situational Awareness Integrated Capabilities (MOSSAIC) program.
Under the first contract for the Ground Based Optical Sensor System (GBOSS), the company is to design and field an upgrade for the Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) telescopes at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. and Maui, Hawaii.
“The upgrade will increase GBOSS resiliency and facilitate more persistent coverage supporting space domain awareness across the DoD,” L3Harris said.
Under the second contract, L3Harris is to continue sustainment of the Lockheed Martin
[LMT] Space Fence radar. Located on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the $1.6 billion S-band Space Fence radar is to track objects mostly in low Earth orbit but also in geosynchronous Earth orbit. Space Fence achieved initial operational capability on March 27, 2020.
“The Space Fence sustainment program will enable tracking of the objects orbiting Earth, monitoring space weather and assessing foreign launches,” L3Harris said, adding that the program will help military forces “detect and attribute potential threatening behavior.”
Begun in 2020, MOSSAIC has an estimated value of $1.2 billion over 10 years. Under MOSSAIC, L3Harris provides sustainment of ground-based space domain awareness sensors and space battle management command and control. MOSSAIC is a follow-on to the Systems Engineering and Sustainment Integrator program, which L3Harris won in 2002.
Both GEODSS and Space Fence are part of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Surveillance Network, which also includes the recently launched National Reconnaissance Office SILENTBARKER satellites and six Northrop Grumman [NOC] Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program satellites.