NASA’s Office of Earth Sciences
yesterday awarded Aerojet a $206.6 million contract to build the
Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), a next generation, satellite
microwave instrument for use in weather forecasting and climate change
research.
The new instrument measures microwave energy emitted and scattered by the
atmosphere.
When combined with observations from an infrared sounder, ATMS
will provide daily global atmospheric temperature, moisture, and pressure
profiles.
Aerojet will draw on its considerable expertise in microwave instruments
— including knowledge in systems engineering, atmospheric physics, instrument
calibration and microwave instrument production — to fully support NASA and
the NPOESS IPO in ensuring the mission success of ATMS.
“We’re excited to continue the successful partnership Aerojet has
developed with NASA on the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A) program
and contribute to improved weather forecasting and climate research with
ATMS,” said Steve Scott, Aerojet director of business development for
Remote Sensing Systems.
Aerojet is teamed with BAE SYSTEMS, another industry leader in the area of
remote sensing.
Together the team has delivered over 55 remote sensing
instruments.
Scheduled for delivery in 2004, ATMS will be about one-third the size and
weight of existing microwave sounding instruments.
The first ATMS will fly on
the NPOESS Preparatory Project mission, a joint effort between NASA and the
NPOESS program office.
NPOESS is a tri-agency program, including NASA, NOAA
and the U.S. Air Force.
Aerojet, a GenCorp company, is a world-recognized aerospace and defense
leader principally serving the space electronics, missile and space
propulsion, and smart munitions and armaments markets.
Aerojet’s Web site
address is http://www.aerojet.com.
