Space Operations & Engineering Services
Unsurpassed Customer Focus & Program Performance
We have a proud legacy in space with decades of experience flying the world's most sophisticated spacecraft. Our team of experienced engineers, operations professionals and program managers provide spacecraft systems and subsystems engineering, mission planning, ground systems engineering and management, communications and network services.
NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy and commercial customers around the world rely on our talented people.
Landsat 8 and 9 Missions
As a joint initiative between U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA, the Landsat Project supports government, commercial, civilian, military, and educational communities and initiatives throughout the United States and worldwide representing the world’s longest continuously acquired collection of space-based moderate-resolution land remote sensing data. For these missions, our team of engineers integrated, tested and delivered the ground system command and control segment known as the Mission Operations Element (MOE). They also performed all of the pre-launch Ground System and mission readiness support and continue to provide ground system expertise to the operations team and hardware refresh support via the MOE contract.
James Web Space Telescope (JWST)
The James Webb Space Telescope is NASA's flagship mission that will act as the Hubble space telescope's "Successor". Engineers from our team acted as the Lead Project Ground Segment & Operations engineer, the Lead Integrated Instrument Module Operations Engineer, and the Lead Commissioning Engineer for this massive undertaking.
Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource-Identification-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx)
The OSIRIS-REx mission is NASA's first ever asteroid sample return mission, on its way to the near earth asteroid, Bennu, to bring a sample back to Earth to be studied by scientists. Our team of engineers consisted of the Ground Systems Engineer, Ground Readiness Lead, Information Systems Security Official, and the Mission Rehearsal Director.
On-Orbit Missions
The engineers and technical teams also support our customers on-orbit missions. Connecting the U.S. Navy fleet and military since 1991, our satellite operations centers deliver reliable, efficient and flexible operations in an increasingly cluttered and potentially contested environment. As we move into the future, our team is working with our customers to automate, customize, and improve the efficiency of space operations.
In Focus
More NewsGeneral Dynamics Mission Payloads - Information from Space to the Warfighter
Our relationship with space has changed dramatically since the first words were heard from the Moon in 1969. Space above Earth is now a complex array of more than 2,200 satellites, not including space debris made up of spent rocket boosters, dead satellites and a wrench or two from space walks and repairs. And, more satellites, large and small, are launching all the time.
Last Call: General Dynamics Radio Sends Final Message from Cassini Spacecraft to Earth
In 1997, engineers at General Dynamics designed and built a transponder, or radio, that would travel aboard the Cassini spacecraft, the nation’s first full-scale mission to explore Saturn. After reaching Saturn, the Cassini mission was to last only four years. Almost twenty years after launch, the spacecraft crashed into Saturn’s gaseous surface after sending millions of images, and textbooks worth of scientific data to Earth, helping reveal the secrets of Saturn’s rings and moons.
NASA's Voyager Mission: Exploring the Unknown for 40 Years (And Still Going)
NASA’s twin spacecraft, Voyager I and II are exploring where nothing from earth has ever flown before. The initial goal of the Voyager mission was a 12-year effort to explore Jupiter and Saturn, but due to the success of the spacecraft and a planetary alignment that occurs about every 175 years it has been extended for the last 40 years to explore Uranus and Neptune and even to the outermost edge of the Sun’s domain, and beyond.