Ball Aerospace Selected for Four
NOAA Operational Weather Studies
June 29, 2020
Ball Aerospace was selected by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
for four, six-month study contracts that will inform
mission, spacecraft and instrument concepts for future
operational weather architectures and Earth observation
capabilities. Ball Aerospace is also collaborating on a
fifth study contract awarded to L3Harris Technologies.
"Operational weather satellites are
a critical part of the nation's infrastructure, playing
a key role in keeping the public safe and the economy
strong by enabling forecasters to predict and reduce the
impacts of extreme weather events," said Dr. Makenzie
Lystrup, vice president and general manager, Civil
Space, Ball Aerospace. "Through close coordination with
the broader weather community, Ball developed a series
of innovative technology and mission solutions to meet
NOAA's most critical space-based observational needs in
an affordable and sustainable way, and these studies are
a continuation of this effort."
The five study contracts include:
Auroral Imager in Tundra – Ball is
working with Computational Physics, Inc. to perform a
trade study of cost and performance between two
promising technology strategies for a dedicated auroral
imager in a highly elliptical Tundra orbit, long
recognized as a useful vantage point for global auroral
imaging. Auroral imagery provides important space
weather situational awareness for users of technologies
affected by auroral phenomena, such as power grids and
aviation services.
Ball Operational Weather Instrument
Evolution (BOWIE) Microwave – This concept study will
evaluate the baseline design of Ball's BOWIE-M
instrument and explore optimization of performance and
cost. BOWIE-M leverages recent advances in microwave
component miniaturization and advances in antenna
technology to enable a future disaggregated
constellation of low-cost, high-performance atmospheric
sounding instruments. Approximately half the size of
current instruments flying on operational polar-orbiting
weather satellites, BOWIE-M is designed to deliver
similar capability at reduced cost. Ball is
collaborating with Atmospheric and Environmental
Research (AER), a Verisk business, that will lead a
trade analysis of the instrument design and performance.
BOWIE Compact Hyperspectral
Infrared Observations (CHIRO) – This instrument concept
study will focus on technology and performance trades
for a cost-effective, high-performance smallsat solution
for hyperspectral infrared sounding from geostationary
orbit.
BOWIE Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) IR
Sounder – Through this study, Ball will explore compact
instrument designs to meet NOAA's atmospheric vertical
temperature and moisture profiling requirements,
identifying technology roadmap options to address cost
versus performance for infrared sounder instrument(s)
for rapid insertion into Low-Earth Orbit.
Joint LEO Sounding Mission Study –
Ball is working with L3Harris and PlanetiQ for this
mission concept study, which will evaluate an
all-industry smallsat mission, hosting both microwave
and infrared sounding instruments (provided by Ball and
L3Harris, respectively), and GNSS-RO sounding sensors
(provided by PlanetiQ). The team will also explore how
the mission can be optimized for cost and performance
while meeting the LEO sounding requirements of NOAA's
future operational weather architecture. Ball will also
perform an accommodation assessment of the baseline
instrument designs, from all study participants, using a
Ball small satellite for insertion in various orbits. In
addition to an instrument integration assessment, Ball
will study commercial launch options to enable a
delivery-on-orbit acquisition model for a complete
sounding system that NOAA would own and operate.
Ball has played key roles on
numerous operational weather satellite programs,
including the Ball-built Suomi National Polar-orbiting
Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite, which launched in
2011, and the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1)
satellite, now NOAA-20, which launched in 2017. In
addition, Ball is also currently manufacturing the
Weather System Follow-On satellite for the U.S. Space
Force.
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