Lockheed Martin says that the Defense Satellite Communications System III constellation has “surpassed 175 years of on-orbit service.” The DSCS constellation comprises nine satellites in geostationary orbit that provide worldwide military secure voice and high-data-rate communications. The company has built 14 DSCS spacecraft, the last of which launched in August 2003.
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…