NASA gave Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC] a contract worth up to $44.5 million to provide an instrument that would fly on the long-delayed National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, or NPOESS, C1 mission.
The NASA facility, the Langley Research Center at Hampton, Va., awarded the contract to Northrop to support the design, manufacture, assembly, test and calibration of the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System, or CERES, Flight Model 6 instrument.
Lawmakers have criticized NPOESS, expressing concern that not all the instruments, or sensors, originally envisioned for the weather and Earth climate monitoring satellite may be installed on it, because of soaring costs. Members of Congress also have been concerned about schedule delays. (Please see Space & Missile Defense Report, Monday, June 9, 2008.) Northrop is the prime contractor for NPOESS.
Because of cost increases and schedule delays, some instruments such as the Total Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS) were removed from NPOESS in 2006. But TSIS was restored to NPOESS last year. Also last year, officials decided to place CERES on the NPOESS preparatory project.
That cost-plus-award fee, incentive fee contract for Northrop has a maximum value of
$44.5 million over 10 years. The company will perform the work at its facility in Redondo Beach, Calif.
CERES instruments are broadband radiometers that scan Earth, observing reflected shortwave and Earth-emitted radiance. These observations are used to measure the time and space distributions of incoming energy from the Sun and outgoing thermal and reflected energy from Earth (known as Earth’s radiation budget). The measurements help develop a quantitative understanding of the links between the radiation budget and the properties of the atmosphere and surface that define it, and improve models of Earth’s climate system.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NASA is funding the development of the CERES Flight Model 6 under a reimbursable agreement with NASA. It will fly on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, or NPOESS, C1 mission.
NPOESS is a multi-agency program to develop the next generation of polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites that form the basis for weather forecasting, and is co- funded by NOAA and the Department of Defense with NASA as a technology provider. The NPOESS program is managed by the interagency Integrated Program Office.
CERES Flight Model 5 is scheduled for flight on the NPOESS Preparatory Project mission that NASA is implementing in partnership with the NPOESS IPO. Earlier CERES Flight Models are currently flying on NASA’s Earth Observing System satellites. This succession of CERES instruments enables the long time series of Earth radiation budget data that is essential to understanding climate change.