Sierra Nevada Space Systems chosen to build NASA climate satellite
Friday May 15, 2015 0 comments
LOUISVILLE -- Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems division in Louisville was selected by Exelis Geospatial Systems to develop and build the Radiation Budget Instrument (RBI) Azimuth Rotation Module (ARM) for the joint satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) mission.
Exelis is the prime contractor to NASA for the project.
The JPSS polar satellite constellation mission will gather global Earth observation data to better predict and monitor climate trends, Sierra Nevada said.
Long-term satellite data from RBI will help scientists and researchers understand the links between Earth’s incoming and outgoing energy.
“SNC is excited to support Exelis on the RBI contract and to be a part of the JPSS-2 team, whose work will provide critical Earth science data to allow for more accurate predictions of seasonal climate forecasts, improve global warming tracking and provide an enhanced understanding of cloud and climate feedback that determines climate variations and trends,” said Bryan Helgesen, SNC Space Systems’ director of business development.
“SNC is proud of our long history of developing leading-edge, high-precision technologies for space and our 100 percent on-orbit operational success rate.”
JPSS is set to launch in early 2017, and JPSS-2 is planned for launch during the fourth quarter of 2021.