Some members of the Prometheus Team at a ceremony at Los Alamos National Laboratory this past Monday. The team received the Secretary of Energy Achievement Award for their exceptional work in developing a “cube sat” constellation for U.S. Special Operations Command. Courtesy/LANL
LANL News:
More than 60 Los Alamos National Laboratory staff instrumental in the success of the Prometheus project were honored Monday with the Secretary of Energy Achievement Award at a special ceremony in Los Alamos.
Prometheus is the name of the cube satellite (“cube sat”) constellation developed by Los Alamos for U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). LANL Director Charlie McMillan and Principal Associate Director Terry Wallace for Global Security, presented the awards, which recognize team members for their “deep technical expertise” and “tight collaboration … to accomplish challenging performance goals under an aggressive launch timeline.”
The technology developed by the Prometheus team has helped shape the future direction of agile space systems for the U.S. military and the Department of Energy.
As noted by USSOCOM Commander Admiral William McRaven, “Many in the space community were skeptical of the approach and predicted publicly that the system would not work.…Now these same skeptics are adopting many of the concepts and the approach that was taken on Prometheus.”
The team’s perseverance paid off in November 2013 with the successful launch and deployment of eight Prometheus satellites to support SOCOM operational needs.
