NOAA and NASA Announce Contract Award for Imaging Suite Aboard next Generation Goes Spacecraft Series

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA announced that Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company of Palo Alto, Calif., was awarded a $6 million contract to work on the Solar Imaging Suite for the next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, which NOAA operates. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The SIS will monitor solar activity for the new GOES-R program series, which will replace and enhance the current GOES series of space weather instruments. Under the terms of the firm, fixed-price, 18-month contract, Lockheed Martin will study both the minimum SIS operational requirements and the overall goal requirements.

Lockheed Martin will perform the principle work, and additional work will be performed at the following subcontractor facilities, including the University of Colorado, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colo., and at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

NOAA manages the GOES program and establishes the requirements, provides funding and distributes environmental data for the United States. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., procures and manages the acquisition of GOES for NOAA.

NOAA Satellites and Information is America’s primary source of space-based oceanographic, meteorological and climate data. It operates the nation’s environmental satellites, which are used for ocean and weather observation and forecasting, climate monitoring, and other environmental applications. Some of the oceanographic applications include sea-surface temperature for hurricane and weather forecasting and sea-surface heights for El Niño prediction.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation’s coastal and marine resources.

On the Web:

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

NOAA Satellites and Information Service: http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov