NOAA plans $20 million satellite review

By Joab Jackson

By Joab Jackson

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has awarded 11 contracts to develop architecture ideas for next-generation weather satellites.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has awarded 11 contracts to develop architecture ideas for next-generation weather satellites.

The winning companies will conduct studies on the best ways to upgrade the agency's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system, NOAA officials said.

Jointly the contracts are worth $20.5 million, but the winning vendors did not all receive contracts of the same amount. The period for each contract is 12 months, with an option for six additional months.

Each company will define the requirements for different parts of the GOES system. The studies must include research of advanced technologies and other architectures, NOAA officials said.

The satellite system provides global weather information for public and government use. The agency wants to upgrade the quality and timeliness of the information.

The 11 vendors and their contract awards are:

  • Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo.: $2.5 million


  • Boeing Co. of Chicago: $2.5 million


  • Carr Astronautics Inc. of Washington: $500,000


  • Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla.: $1.5 million


  • Honeywell International Corp. of Morris Township, N.J.: $500,000


  • Integral Systems Inc. of Lanham, Md.: $500,000


  • Lockheed Martin Corp.: $2.5 million


  • Northrop Grumman Corp.: $2.5 million


  • Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va.: $2 million


  • Raytheon Co.: $2.5 million


  • Spectrum Astro Inc. of Gilbert, Ariz.: $1 million.


    • Joab Jackson writes for Government Computer News magazine.

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