DocumentCode :
1885522
Title :
CHIRP program lessons learned from the contractor program management team perspective
Author :
Pang, Rich ; Kennedy, Vickie ; Armand, Brent ; Mauch, Larry ; Fleming, John D.
Author_Institution :
SES Gov. Solutions, McLean, VA, USA
fYear :
2012
fDate :
3-10 March 2012
Firstpage :
1
Lastpage :
7
Abstract :
With shrinking budgets and expanding program costs, government program offices are seeking innovative ways to accomplish their goals with better efficiency and less cost. In 2008, the U.S. Air Force´s Space and Missile Systems Center´s Development Planning Directorate (SMC/XRF) took a bold step in this direction and funded a new program that started as an unsolicited proposal from SES Government Solutions, and its industry teammates, Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). The program called for hosting of an Air Force furnished infrared sensor, developed by SAIC, on an SES commercial communications satellite, built by Orbital, and was appropriately referred to as CHIRP (Commercially Hosted Infra-Red Payload). This bold new effort has been a resounding success and has stimulated a whole new market area for hosted payloads that is now germinating throughout the aerospace industry. The concept of a staring sensor using large format focal plane arrays began as a risk reduction program by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Under that program (the Alternate InfraRed Satellite System (AIRSS) or Third Generation Infrared Surveillance (3GIRS) program), SAIC developed a laboratory model of a full-earth, four-telescope staring Overhead Persistent InfraRed (OPIR) sensor for ground validation. For the CHIRP contract, but under the 3GIRS umbrella, SAIC designed and developed a space-qualified, one-quarter earth, single OPIR staring telescope for a technical demonstration in space. The satellite was built by Orbital Sciences as part of an existing commercial contract with SES. The sensor and satellite efforts were leveraged by the CHIRP program, integrating the government furnished equipment (GFE) sensor with the commercial SES-2 telecommunications satellite. The CHIRP program uses contractor ground system facilities and mission operations teams to operate and evaluate the CHIRP system, including sensor commandin- , state-of-health monitoring, sensor calibration and characterization, and tracking algorithm assessment on the ground using on-orbit data. The satellite is operated by SES through its commercial satellite operations center (SOC). By design, CHIRP operations are completely independent of spacecraft operations except for initial deployments and CHIRP power on/off activities. Sensor commands are generated at SAIC´s CHIRP Mission Analysis Center (CMAC) in Seal Beach, California, transmitted through Orbital´s CHIRP Mission Operations Center (CMOC) in Dulles, Virginia, and uplinked to the spacecraft by the SES-operated teleport in Woodbine, Maryland. The CHIRP mission data is transmitted from the CHIRP payload through an Orbital-developed Secondary Payload Interface (SPI) on the spacecraft, where it is encrypted and transmitted to the ground through one of the commercial transponders. The ground entry point for the CHIRP data is a SES teleport, which transmits the data to the CMOC for dissemination in real-time to the CMAC and the U.S. Air Force´s Advanced Fusion Center (AFC). The CMOC and CMAC are accredited to handle collateral classified data, while the SES facilities are commercial entities with no access to classified data. The CHIRP program is a truly ground breaking, but like many early endeavors had to overcome challenges along the way. However, at the end of the day, the CHIRP team: a) Space-qualified a ground-breaking wide-field-of-wiew (WFOV), OPIR sensor designed and developed by SAIC in two years on the 3GIRS program; b) Integrated the payload onto a commercial communications satellite platform, including all payload accommodations for heat, power, and commanding, and tested the payload within the commercial integration and testing (I&T) flow; c) Launched and flew the sensor in space a little over three years from the start of the contract; d) Demonstrated the agility and flexibility of the commercially hosted payload concept, which included accommo
Keywords :
aerospace industry; astronomical telescopes; calibration; focal planes; infrared detectors; satellite communication; teleportation; transponders; 3GIRS program; Air Force Research Laboratory; CHIRP Mission Analysis Center; CHIRP program lessons; California; Dulles; Maryland; Orbital Sciences Corporation; SES commercial communications satellite; SES government solutions; SES teleport; SES-2 telecommunications satellite; Science Applications International Corporation; Seal Beach; Space and Missile Systems Center´s Development Planning Directorate; U.S. Air Force´s Advanced Fusion Center; Virginia; Woodbine; aerospace industry; alternate infrared satellite system; commercially hosted infrared payload; contractor program management; focal plane arrays; government furnished equipment; ground system facilities; operational orbital location; overhead persistent infrared sensor; sensor calibration; state-of-health monitoring; telescope; third generation infrared surveillance; transponders; Chirp; Contracts; Government; Payloads; Satellites; Schedules; Space vehicles;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Aerospace Conference, 2012 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Big Sky, MT
ISSN :
1095-323X
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4577-0556-4
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/AERO.2012.6187278
Filename :
6187278
Link To Document :
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