Raytheon was awarded an $8 million contract with NASA Goddard Space Center to upgrade the command, control and telemetry (CCT) subsystems of the Earth Observing System (EOS).

Enhancing the CCT subsystem will allow NASA to lower maintenance costs by exploiting automation and virtualization technologies, reducing the number of machines that need to be maintained by 69 percent.

"This contract enables Raytheon to continue our rich history of providing program excellence and reliable engineering solutions to NASA's earth observation missions," says James Olson, director of Space and Environmental Missions for Raytheon's Intelligence, Information and Services business.

"Today's budget environment requires innovative solutions to reduce costs. Greater automation will streamline EOS operational costs, and virtualization technologies will cut maintenance costs by minimizing the CCT computing footprint."

The EOS CCT subsystem evolution and development contract, which supports the Terra, Aqua, Aura and TRMM missions, will continue to give scientists and climate researchers access to valuable data to better understand how the earth's atmosphere, oceans and lands interact.

Raytheon developed the core components of NASA's EOS CCT subsystem by integrating its command and control ECLIPSE-based online software, which became operational in 1999.

In addition to automation and enhanced virtualization, Raytheon will continue upgrading the system's cybersecurity posture by incorporating the evolving National Institute of Standards and Technology-based security controls and updating the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software.