WASHINGTON — NASA awarded ITT Geospatial Systems of Rochester, N.Y., a $98.6 million cost-plus contract to build an infrared sounding instrument that will fly on the first of a new generation of civil polar-orbiting weather satellites, NASA announced Sept. 20.
ITT’s Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CRIS) will be one of five weather- and climate-monitoring instruments on the first Joint Polar Satellite System spacecraft that NASA is building on behalf of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NASA this month contracted with Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo., to build the satellite’s Ozone Mapping and Profiling Suite. The satellite is slated to launch in 2014.
ITT began developing the first CRIS in 1999 for the joint military-civilian National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program, which was dismantled by the White House this year. The first CRIS will fly on a precursor satellite known as the NPOESS Preparatory Project built by Ball Aerospace and scheduled to launch next year. It was delivered to Ball in June for integration with the spacecraft platform.
Ball also is building the first Joint Polar Satellite System spacecraft platform.
