Boeing Satellite Systems, Inc. (BSS)
is leading a team of industry experts in a bid to build a new weather
instrument that would provide timely, accurate and cost-effective weather
data for civilian, military, and scientific users. BSS is a unit of The
Boeing Company.
The team recently submitted a contract proposal to the National
Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS)
Integrated Program Office for the Conical Microwave Imager Sounder (CMIS)
weather instrument. The Departments of Commerce and Defense, as well as
NASA, have joined the NPOESS Integrated Program Office to develop, acquire,
manage, and operate the next-generation of polar-orbiting, operational
environmental satellites. The Government plans to award the contract, which
at completion has an estimated value of approximately $300 million, in early
summer. The first NPOESS system is scheduled to be available for launch in
2008.
“The CMIS weather instrument is going to be a very capable system, with
national importance. It will be an ‘all weather’ weather sensor that will
provide significantly more capability than previous systems by having much
better resolution and more channels,” said Randy Brinkley, president of
Boeing Satellite Systems. “With more than 100 years of accumulated weather
experience, BSS is qualified to lead this team with the right technical
experience base, a solid history of performance in the weather satellite
business, and a good, solid technical design.”
As the proposed prime contractor, BSS leads a team comprised of Atmospheric
and Environmental Research (AER), Inc., of Lexington, Mass.; Remote Sensing
Systems of Santa Rosa California; Millitech of Northampton, Mass.; Honeywell
Space Systems Division of Clearwater, Fla., and Integral Systems in Lanham,
Md.
CMIS will be the first microwave imager/sounder to be carried on a U.S.
civil weather satellite, and will be a “next-generation” instrument,
incorporating better calibration and new technologies. CMIS will contain a
microwave imager capable of measuring a number of environmental data
records, including wind speed and direction over the ocean, and soil
moisture. It will also feature the addition of a sounder, capable of taking
a “vertical picture” through the atmosphere, therefore reading temperature
and humidity profiles at various atmospheric levels. The sounder complements
the data provided by the microwave imager in much the same way that
three-dimensional mapping provides a more complete picture than
two-dimensional mapping.
The company’s previous meteorological work includes the on-orbit experience
gained from five Geostationary Meteorological Satellites (GMS) built for
Japan, which were launched between 1977 and 1995; and the Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES D through H) built for NASA,
which were launched between 1980 and 1995. BSS is currently under contract
for the next-generation GOES satellites, designated “N” and “O,” with
options for “P” and “Q.” GOES N is scheduled for launch in early 2003.
Boeing Satellite Systems’ first-generation microwave sensors, the Special
Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), built for the U.S. Air Force’s Defense
Meteorological Satellite Program, have accumulated more than 35 years of
flight experience. Their Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave
Imager (TMI), built for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, has been in
service for more than three years.
Boeing Satellite Systems is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial
communications satellites, and is also a major provider of space systems,
satellites, and payloads for national defense, science and environmental
applications.
The Boeing Company, headquartered in Seattle, is the largest aerospace
company in the world and the United States’ leading exporter. It is the
world’s largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft,
and the largest NASA contractor. The company’s capabilities in aerospace
also include rotorcraft, electronic and defense systems, missiles, rocket
engines, launch vehicles, and advanced information and communication
systems. The company has an extensive global reach with customers in 145
countries and manufacturing operations throughout the United States, Canada
and Australia.