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BAE SYSTEMS Receives NASA Award to Design Hyperspectral Environmental Suite

Posted on: Thursday, 17 June 2004, 06:00 CDT

BAE Systems has received a $20 million NASA contract to design a new atmospheric sounding/coastal water imaging instrument. BAE Systems is one of three companies that will formulate designs. NASA will later select the winning design to be built and fly on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES).

Called the Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES), that instrument will sense from orbit the temperature and water vapor profiles in the earth's atmosphere. The new sensor suite will also monitor the world's coastal environment.

During the two-year contract, BAE Systems Information and Electronic Warfare Systems (IEWS) will assist the government in developing HES requirements, perform risk reduction activities, develop a detailed concept design and cost estimate, and plan for payload development to take place during the later Implementation Phase.

"We're very pleased to be selected by NASA for this critical program. Our Space Systems and Electronics (SS&E) team has worked for many years to help NASA not only define the program but to develop critical technology. We are now ready for the challenge of turning the HES requirements into a system that will please our customer and provide invaluable data to our nation," said Dave Penrose, SS&E deputy general manager.

BAE Systems team members include Northrop Grumman Space Technology, Redondo Beach, Calif.; SSGPO, Andover, Mass.; and Space Dynamics Laboratory, a unit of Utah State University, located in Bedford, Mass.

"Our industry team brings unique experience in space sensor systems to the challenges presented by the HES design," said Kevin Maschhoff, HES systems engineering manager. BAE Systems previously developed the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, providing the first hyperspectral sounding data from low earth orbit. Space Dynamics Lab, together with BAE Systems and SSGPO, are presently developing a prototype hyperspectral sounder for NASA. In addition, Northrop Grumman developed Hyperion, which provided the first visible and near infrared hyperspectral imagery from earth orbit.

Following completion of the design framework, BAE Systems will compete for the Implementation Phase of the HES program.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is the development and procurement agency for the geostationary weather satellites operated by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA). Data provided by NOAA are critical in all aspects of weather forecasting, from hurricane tracking in the Caribbean to long-duration observation of phenomena such as global warming. Current GOES satellites will provide this data through 2012, at which time the new sensor suites will be activated.

BAE Systems is an international company engaged in the development, delivery, and support of advanced defense and aerospace systems in the air, on land, at sea, and in space. BAE Systems Information & Electronic Warfare Systems is a major producer of aircraft self-protection systems and tactical surveillance and intelligence systems for all branches of the armed forces.

BAE Systems, innovating for a safer world.

To obtain additional information about us, visit "What's News" at: www.iews.na.baesystems.com.

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