"Goddard is pleased to continue the EOS series of measurements into the next millennium and to support NASA's role in the NPOESS (National Polar-orbiting Operational Environment Satellite System) program by infusing new technology into instruments and by demonstrating that new technology prior to the launch of the first NPOESS satellite," said Christopher Scolese, Earth Observing System-G Program Manager. "This technology will benefit both the operational weather community and the Earth Science climate change research communities."

The new instrument, the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), measures microwave energy emitted and scattered by the atmosphere. It operates along with an infrared sounder instrument to produce daily global atmospheric vertical temperature, humidity and pressure profiles. These profiles are essential to accurate weather forecasting and long-term climate change research.

ATMS will replace instruments currently flying on polar-orbiting weather satellites. The new instrument is about one-third the size and weight of the existing microwave sounding instruments flown on the POES and Earth Observing System-PM spacecraft. This miniaturization of ATMS is enabled by the application of new technologies, principally in the area of microwave electronics. Also, this miniaturization enables the use of smaller spacecraft to fly ATMS and the other required instruments, thereby reducing the cost of future weather and climate research satellites. The copy cost of ATMS is several tens of millions of dollars less than the combined copy costs of the previously used instruments.

The first ATMS unit is planned to be flown on the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) mission, a joint effort between NASA and the NPOESS program Office. NPOESS is a tri-agency program, which consists of components of NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Air Force. The program merges current civilian and military polar-orbiting weather satellite systems into a single polar-orbiting system. Once operational in the next decade, the NPP mission also will demonstrate the utility of the improved atmospheric temperature, moisture and pressure data in short-term weather nowcasting and forecasting.

Of equal importance, NPP will ensure continuity of advanced atmospheric infrared sounding data by "bridging" between the NASA Earth Observing System research missions early next decade and the NPOESS operational missions that will begin late in the next decade.

The 1994 Presidential Decision Directive that established the NPOESS Integrated Program Office charged NASA with the responsibility for facilitating the development and incorporation of new cost-effective technologies into the NPOESS system. NOAA was charged with overall responsibility for the converged system, as well as satellite operations and interactions with the civil and international user communities. The U.S. Air force has the lead agency responsibility for major systems acquisitions, including launch support.

NASA is using a novel procurement approach to develop ATMS. The procurement approach, "Progressive Down-Select," will enable NASA to shorten the development time of the instrument, thereby cutting costs and improving efficiency.

The "Progressive Down-Select" is an advancement over other procurement approaches because it embodies streamlined development, abandoning traditional "between phases" delays. Previously, an instrument was developed by first awarding a formulation or "design" contract, followed by an implementation or "build" contract. The "Progressive Down-Select" approach speeds up the process by concurrently releasing the implementation phase request for proposal while the formulation phase is still being worked on. The end result is streamlined development process, which results in reduced development cost and time.

Space Science - SpaceDaily Special Report

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