ITT Industries to
Work on Next Generation GOES Weather Satellite Instrument
(14 September 2004) NASA has
selected ITT Industries, Inc. (NYSE:ITT) Space Systems Division for a US$ 359
million contract to develop, manufacture and test an advanced Imager for the
next generation of geostationary weather satellites operated and funded by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The new Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), will be a primary instrument on NOAA's
future Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) beginning with
the GOES-R mission in 2008. The ABI will view the Earth from a
22,300-mile-high-orbit over the equator gathering critical weather data for use
by the National Weather Service for routine and severe storm forecasts. The
GOES constellation is one third of America's early warning systems for severe
weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes. The other systems include NEXRAD
radars and the Polar Orbiting satellites known as POES. POES instruments are
also developed and manufactured by ITT.
"As recent events have
demonstrated, improving weather forecasting remains critical. ITT Industries is
proud to continue our long tradition of being a supplier of key instruments for
America's early warning weather system," said Hank Driesse, President, ITT
Industries, Defense. "This is a key program win for ITT's new Space Systems
Division and we are well positioned to address future opportunities in the US$
6 billion remote sensing markets."
ITT Industries' Imagers have a long
history of service with NOAA starting with the TIROS weather satellites in
1978. Evolutionary changes to the sensors are flying on board the current GOES
spacecraft as well as the Low Earth Orbit POES satellites. Similar instruments
being produced by ITT will also be critical to both the European and Japanese
weather forecasting systems.
The ABI is an advanced version of the
current series of GOES Imagers, but will have a greater number of measurement
and data channels, improved spatial resolution and faster Earth coverage rates
to improve forecasts of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and other severe
weather.
ITT's major subcontractors in this work include DRS
Technologies, SSG Precision Optronics, Northrop Grumman Space Technologies
(NGST), and Honeywell Space Systems.
(source: ITT
Industries)
