RELEASE NO: 99-117

Ball and Aerojet-General Picked to Study New Weather Sensor

NASA's Office of Earth Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, has selected Ball Aerospace, Boulder, CO, and Aerojet General Corporation, Azusa, CA, for the formulation phase studies of the next-generation space-borne microwave atmospheric instrument that will be used in weather forecasting and climate change research.

The two successful offerors will be awarded a $4 million firm fixed- price contract through the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, for a period of one year, after which time NASA will down-select for building of the instrument. The majority of the work will be performed at the addresses of the successful contractors listed above.

The new instrument, the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), will measure microwave energy emitted and scattered by the atmosphere. It operates along with an infrared sounder instrument to produce daily global atmospheric vertical temperature, humidity and pressure profiles. These profiles are essential to accurate weather forecasting and long-term climate change research.

A total of three proposals were received for this requirement. The unsuccessful offeror was Hughes Space and Communications, Los Angeles, CA.

ATMS will replace instruments currently flying on polar-orbiting weather satellites. The new instrument is about one-third the size and weight of the existing microwave sounding instruments flown on the Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES) and Earth Observing System-PM spacecraft. This miniaturization of ATMS is enabled by the application of new technologies, principally in the area of microwave electronics. Also, this miniaturization enables the use of smaller spacecraft to fly ATMS and the other required instruments, thereby reducing the cost of future weather and climate research satellites.

The first ATMS unit will fly on the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) mission, a joint effort between NASA and the NPOESS program Office. NPOESS is a tri-agency program, which consists of components of NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Air Force. The program merges current civilian and military polar-orbiting weather satellite systems into a single polar-orbiting system. Once operational in the next decade, the NPP mission also will demonstrate the utility of the improved atmospheric temperature, moisture and pressure data in short-term weather nowcasting and forecasting.

Of equal importance, NPP will ensure continuity of advanced atmospheric infrared sounding data by "bridging" between the NASA Earth Observing System research missions early next decade and the NPOESS operational missions that will begin late in the next decade.

Information about the NPOESS program is online at http://npoess.noaa.gov and information about NPP is online at http://jointmission.gsfc.nasa.gov.