EO Vista (EOVista.com) has completed the Sensor Final Design Review for the U.S. Space Force Electro-Optical Infrared Weather System (EWS) Program. EO Vista, a member of the General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) EWS Program team, is developing and building EOV-1, a modernized, electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) weather sensor, to deliver cloud characterization and theater weather imagery to meet the DoD’s critical need for up to the minute high quality weather products. The EWS program will provide enhanced weather imaging capabilities beyond those performed by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), which is nearing its end of life.
EOV-1 is a high-performance multispectral weather imaging payload designed for Space Based Environmental Monitoring (SBEM) in support of military operations. The EOV-1 sensor has been designed in parallel with Atmospheric and Environmental Research’s (AER) modern, high throughput “cloud-based” weather data processing chain. Together, the EOV-1 sensor and the AER processing chain provide a complete end-to-end theater weather imaging and cloud characterization capability for the U.S. Space Force. EOV-1 provides increased spatial resolution compared with legacy sensors such as VIIRS, at less than 1/10th the cost, in a compact smallsat form factor. The EOV-1 weather imaging payload enables a substantial paradigm shift in affordability for high-quality weather imaging from space. The EOV-1 Final Design meets all EWS program requirements including the continuous delivery of real time weather data products to tactical users. In addition, when deployed in a proliferated EWS constellation, the EOV-1 Sensor will provide a highly resilient, disaggregated weather architecture with an unprecedented full global refresh rate of less than 1-hour.
Dr. Steven Wein, President of EO Vista, said, “We are very excited to have already started the hardware and software integration of the EOV-1 Weather Sensor, to have engineering development units running in the lab, and flight hardware starting to arrive at our facility. The team at EO Vista is fully committed and excited to bring next-generation, extremely affordable, high performance weather imaging from space to the U.S. Space Force and our nation.” Mr. Gregg Burgess, Vice President of Space Systems at GA-EMS, said “EO Vista has created a modern, world class facility for integrating state-of-the-art EO/IR payloads, and most importantly, measuring their full performance range while under Thermal Vacuum testing.” And he added, “EO Vista already has eliminated substantial risk by executing flight software on the EWS Engineering Development Units, providing high confidence in the first quarter 2023 delivery for integration with the GA-EMS bus.”
About EO Vista
EO Vista, LLC specializes in the development and deployment of innovative, high-performance Electro Optical and Infrared (EO/IR) sensor systems. The company delivers complete space and airborne optical system payloads and instruments that incorporate real-time embedded software and provide extremely high performance at an affordable price. EO Vista’s payloads address spaceborne and airborne applications including high-resolution, multispectral, and hyperspectral imaging, and real-time 3D mapping applications. EO Vista is an employee-owned small business and non-traditional defense contractor recognized for its industry-leading expertise, cost-effectiveness, and fast and reliable service in the design and delivery of some of the nation’s most advanced electro-optical sensor systems. For further information, visit EOVista.com.
