Ball Aerospace has secured a deal from Nasa to provide spacecraft operations support for Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite.
Launched in 2011, Suomi-NPP is a part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) next-generation Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) constellation of polar-orbiting environmental satellites.
The project has also been supervised by Nasa.
As part of the newly awarded deal, Ball Aerospace will continue to provide engineering services to the Joint Polar Satellite System Flight Project.
In addition, Ball Aerospace will provide engineering services for NOAA’s Office of Satellite and Product Operations for the mission operations systems and subsystems, as well as the deactivation of the Suomi NPP satellite.
Under the five-year long cost-plus fixed-fee contract, Ball Aerospace can also issue task orders with a minimum ordering value of $50,000 and maximum ordering value of approximately $9.5m.
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By GlobalDataBall Aerospace civil space business unit vice-president and general manager Jim Oschmann said: “We are in a unique position to assist with essential sustaining engineering services and proud to have the opportunity to continue our role of providing critical spacecraft operations support to help Suomi NPP go beyond its original charter.
“The Suomi NPP satellite has significantly impacted everyday safety around the world, largely invisible to the general public and indispensable to the scientific communities at Nasa, NOAA and the US Department of Defence.”
The company is also currently building NOAA/Nasa’s JPSS-1 next-generation weather spacecraft, which is expected to be launched by this year.
Image: Rendering of Suomi NPP satellite. Photo: courtesy of Nasa.
