Northrop Grumman Awarded $30 Million Contract for NOAA Weather Satellite

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. of Azusa, California has been awarded a $30 million contract which will involve the manufacture, testing and delivery of the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), support instrument integration on the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1) which will carry the ATMS, and they will also provide launch and post-launch support for the mission. The contract runs from 2011 through 2017.

According to NASA, who manages the program on behalf of NOAA, 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.

According to the NASA press release, ”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.”