WASHINGTON - NASA has awarded a contract to Boeing Satellite Systems, Inc. in El Segundo, Calif., for two satellites that will replenish the NASA communication relay network that provides telecommunications links between low Earth orbiting spacecraft and the ground.

Boeing will design, develop, fabricate, integrate, test, ship, provide launch support, conduct in-orbit checkout operations and provide sustaining engineering support for the new Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, known as TDRS-K and TDRS-L. Boeing also will design, assemble, test, install and verify modifications that are necessary to make the ground terminals at NASA's White Sands Complex in New Mexico fully compatible with the new TDRS-K and -L spacecraft design.

This is a fixed price incentive fee contract with a basic period of performance beginning in December 2007 and extending through April 2025, if options are exercised. The contract includes options for two additional spacecraft, TDRS-M and -N. The maximum target value for this contract is $1,224,102,439.

The TDRS-K spacecraft is expected to launch by December 2012, and TDRS-L is expected to launch in 2013. Each satellite has a design life of 15 years.

This contract will extend the lifetime of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, which is the primary source of voice, data and telemetry for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station Programs. The system also provides satellite communication and science data relay services for many low Earth orbiting science missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope and Earth Observation System missions. The system also will provide these services for NASA's Constellation Program.

The contract also provides an option to modify an additional Space-to-Ground Link Terminal at White Sands. The government is exercising the option for the terminal at the time this contract is awarded.

The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System is a national asset that provides critical support to NASA science and human exploration missions as well as support to many other government agencies and commercial organizations. The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System Project is located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

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