The Space Systems Development Department (SSDD) is the space and ground support systems research and development organization of the Naval Center for Space Technology. The primary objective of the SSDD is to develop space systems to respond to Navy, Department of Defense, and national mission requirements with improved performance, capability, reliability, efficiency, and/or life cycle cost. The Department must derive system requirements from the mission, develop architectures in response to these requirements, and design and develop systems, subsystems, equipment, and implementation technologies to achieve the optimized, integrated operational space and ground system. These development responsibilities extend across the entire space/ground spectrum of hardware, software, and advanced technologies, including digital processing and control, analog systems, power, communications, command and telemetry, radio frequency, optical, payload, and electromechanical systems, as well as systems engineering.