Harris builds next gen satellite ground system for NOAA

Harris Corp. will provide a complete, end-to-end ground satellite solution for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under a 10-year contract that has a potential value of $736 million.

The Harris team will design, develop, deploy and operate NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite - Series R Ground Segment (GOES-RGS) program, which will receive and process satellite data, and generate and distribute weather data to more than 10,000 direct users.

The company also will provide the command and control of operational satellites. The Harris team is providing a service-based, open-architecture solution that will accommodate the anticipated 40-fold increase in data to be ingested, processed and distributed, company officials said.

The first launch of a GOES-R series satellite is scheduled for 2015.

Today's GOES satellites provide the images and time-lapse sequences familiar to most Americans from television weather forecasts. The next-generation GOES-R system will provide significantly improved image resolution and increase the rate of imagery coverage of earth surfaces from every 30 minutes to every five minutes in normal conditions, and every 30 seconds during periods of severe weather, the officials explained.

Harris is the prime contractor and systems integrator for the ground segment of the program. Team members include Atmospheric and Environmental Research Inc., Boeing Mission Operations, Carr Astronautics, Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc., Wyle Information Systems LLC, and Applied Research and Engineering Sciences.

Harris, of Melbourne, Fla., ranks No. 13 on Washington Technology’s 2009 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.