News release

Compaq Alpha Workstations Support NASA's Mission Critical Projects

Flight controllers working on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station projects at Johnson Space Center (JSC) will soon have new high-tech tools to help them support astronauts and cosmonauts in space. And, it will take almost 500 custom-configured computer workstations to do the job.

Under a $4.7 million contract awarded by Lockheed Martin, Compaq (NYSE: CPQ) is supplying approximately 475 advanced Tru64 UNIX-based computers—XP900 and XP-1000 Alpha workstations and about 635 high-end P1210 color monitors. Lockheed Martin is using the workstations to upgrade the Mission Control Centers for both the Space Shuttle and International Space Station under its Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC) with NASA. The color monitors and workstations will be used to monitor and control both ISS and shuttle flights.

"Compaq has taken a leadership position in delivering state-of-the-art technologies that are powering many of the world's leading initiatives, from mapping the human genome to supporting mission-critical operations for NASA's Space Shuttle and International Space Station projects," said Jerry Earle, vice president for Compaq's Central Region. "This agreement with Lockheed Martin and NASA demonstrates how we are creating innovative products that help our customers achieve their business goals more efficiently and effectively."

"When Lockheed Martin developed these control centers for NASA we used commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products such as Compaq's Alpha workstations and integrated them into a unique, high-performing system for our customer," said Jay F. Honeycutt, president, Lockheed Martin Space Operations.

"This approach resulted in significant development and operating savings for NASA. Now, we have another benefit to the COTS approach, because we can go out into the commercial market to upgrade the systems, providing NASA with a significant increase in functionality at a fairly modest cost," he said.

Some of the Alpha workstations currently in use in the control centers date back to 1993. Since that time, a lot of new software has been added to the systems to automate many new tasks, said Jack Knight, chief of NASA's Advanced Operations and Development Division at JSC. All of these new tasks have put a strain on the old systems. While they can still do the job, their age is showing—with sluggish performance and longer processing times. The new Compaq workstations will deliver almost 1000 times the processing power and use less power to boot.

Lockheed Martin is capitalizing the new workstations. As part of its CSOC contract with NASA, the company assumed responsibility to replace non-maintainable NASA equipment. Installation of the Compaq workstations will be accomplished in four phases on an accelerated schedule. In the first phase, which began in late March, 129 workstations will be installed. The entire upgrade is expected to be completed by September 2001.

About NASA's Consolidated Space Operations Contract

CSOC provides operations support, maintenance and sustaining engineering or hardware and software systems in the Mission Control Center in support of the International Space Station and Space Shuttle. CSOC is a $3-billion-plus contract awarded by NASA to Lockheed Martin, who serves as the prime contractor to provide end-to-end space operations and Mission and Data Services to both NASA and non-NASA customers. CSOC manages NASA's data collection, telemetry and communications operations that support Earth-orbiting satellites, planetary exploration, and human space flight activities. Services include data acquisition from spacecraft, data transmission to end-users, data processing and storage, ground and space communications, and mission control center operations.

About Lockheed Martin Space Operations

Lockheed Martin Space Operations (LMSO) is a business unit of Lockheed Martin Technology Services headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. LMSO, a high-tech engineering and science services firm, employs about 4,000 engineers, scientists and support personnel. Services include managing CSOC; software and hardware engineering for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station; mission operations and planning systems design, development, and integration; and human life sciences research.