NASA Awards Microwave Sounder Contract For JPSS Spacecraft

The Indian Ocean at Sunset aboard the ISS. (Photo by NASA)

WASHINGTON -- NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has awarded a sole source letter contract to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. of Azusa, Calif., for the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) instrument planned for flight on the first Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1).

The estimated value of this letter contract is $30 million with a period of performance from 2011 through 2017. Northrop Grumman will manufacture, test and deliver ATMS, support instrument integration on JPSS-1, and provide launch and post-launch support.

The ATMS instrument is the next-generation cross-track microwave sounder that will combine the capabilities of current generation microwave temperature sounders that are flying on NOAA’s Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites. The JPSS-1 satellite will host the ATMS and other instruments necessary to provide civil weather forecasting and climate data under the JPSS program.

JPSS is the restructured civilian portion of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). This system includes the satellites and sensors supporting civil weather and climate measurements and a shared ground infrastructure with the Department of Defense weather satellite system.

NASA is the procurement agent for these assets, and the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., is the lead for acquisition for the program. JPSS is managed on behalf of NOAA by the Joint Agency Satellite Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.