Wallops New Command Center

seventy years ago– is moving away from the space-age– to modern day– through new technologies and cutting edge designs. some of that– will be used for a new state of the art command center. 47 abc’s jobina fortson joins us live in the studio with more. jobina? that’s right david. actually– wallops already has a mission launch command center– but it’s old. people were still watching the news in black and white when it was built. but the command center — is getting a major upgrade next year. 13:50:01 construction truck beeping backing up13:50:04 track construction may be already underway– but the ground was ceremoniously broken at the wallops flight facility for their new mission launch command center– or mlcc. 13:36:47 officials throwing the dirt13:36:49 track the current command center was built in the 1950’s on an island about seven miles away from where the new one will be. bill wrobel, wallops director 13:44:59 the island is where we’re doing kind of all the direct mission related work, so it’s important for us to kind of segregate with kind of the mission critical things, with things that can be handled a little more remotely 13:45:12 track so the new five-point-six million dollar m-l-c-c — and its over fourteen thound square feet floor plan– will be on wallops main campus. meaning it will be much less vulnerable to the elements than the old one. it’ll be outfitted with the works through leed– or leadership in energy and environmental design. creating efficiency gains– like minimizing the use of electricity. steven kremer, wallops range office chief> 13:39:00 the cost to run that building for that tax payer every year is so low compared to what we have in our older building 13:39:05 track another gain– the mlcc will have three different control rooms. steven kremer 13:40:11 if we want to run multiple missions simultaneously out of that building we’re able to do that now. so we can be supporting antares missions in one room and prepping for a sounding rocket mission that’s a week later in the other room 13:40:23 track we’re told this will allow wallops to get more customers using their facility– with this structure serving as the hub for interfacing with and controlling rockets, their payloads and launch pad support systems during flight operations. steven kremer, wallops range office chief 13:38:21 we’re getting ready to take advantage of these rich advances in technology and facilities advancements and provide something for the future of wallops 13:38:28 the new m-l-c-c is expected to be finished by the second half of 20-17. back to you. alright thanks jobina…47 abc’s jobina fortson reporting tonight. and along with a new building– wallops is also gearing up for a summer mission