CONTACT: Patricia Viets FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
4/2/97A $12 million contract for satellite antenna systems has been awarded to AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation of Columbia, Md., the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.
The contract, for delivery of three end-to-end antenna systems to support polar spacecraft, has a potential value of $22 million, including all options.
The antenna systems will be installed at NOAA's Command and Data Acquisition Station in Fairbanks, Alaska. The systems will provide multiple polar spacecraft mission data transit/receive capability. Acquisition of this data, and command of polar spacecraft through these antenna systems, will enable the Fairbanks site to support the converged operations of NOAA's Polar Operational Environmental Satellites with those of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.
The new antenna systems will also be upgradeable to support the next series of polar satellites, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).
Two additional optional antenna systems may also be ordered through this contract, at the government's sole option, through Fiscal Year 2000. The fourth system is tentatively slated for delivery to Fairbanks in May 1999; the fifth system is available for NOAA's Command and Data Acquisition Station at Wallops, Va., for delivery in May 2000.