Hubble Technology Benefits New Satellite Phone System

The "Vision 2000" software allows scientists and engineers to access and display Hubble spacecraft- and ground-systems data through the Internet. Now engineers can log on from home or other remote locations via their personal computers.

This Hubble spinoff will provide Globalstar, LP, San Jose, CA, with the technology to aid in delivering voice, data, fax and other telecommunications services to users worldwide. The spinoff technology will satisfy the critical need for Globalstar engineers to remotely access spacecraft telemetry data from anywhere in the world. Globalstar team members and partners will be able to coordinate efforts, and dynamically monitor and troubleshoot situations with the constellation of 48 low-Earth orbiting satellites from multiple locations.

As part of its mission to build technology partnerships with industry, Goddard, in Greenbelt, MD, where the Hubble Space Telescope is controlled, has authorized Lockheed Martin Technology Services Group, Seabrook, MD, to use this software for the commercial Globalstar project. Lockheed Martin Technology Services Group is a ground-system contractor to Globalstar, LP.

"This technology transfer partnership with Lockheed Martin shows an example of a technology developed to meet NASA's Hubble Space Telescope mission requirements that also satisfies a need in the commercial marketplace," said Marguerite Broadwell, Intellectual Property Rights Advisor at Goddard.

Goddard is in the process of evaluating the software to determine other viable commercial applications. Companies interested in pursuing commercialization of this or any other Goddard-developed technology are encouraged to contact Goddard's Technology Commercialization Office at 301/286-5810.