Boeing Satellite Systems Bids on Major Weather Instrument Contract.

Business Editors

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2001

Boeing Satellite Systems Inc. (BSS) is leading a team of industry experts in a bid to build a new weather instrument that would provide timely, accurate and cost-effective weather data for civilian, military, and scientific users. BSS is a unit of The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA).

The team recently submitted a contract proposal to the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Integrated Program Office for the Conical Microwave Imager Sounder (CMIS) weather instrument.

The departments of Commerce and Defense, as well as NASA, have joined the NPOESS Integrated Program Office to develop, acquire, manage and operate the next generation of polar-orbiting, operational environmental satellites.

The government plans to award the contract, which at completion has an estimated value of approximately $300 million, in early summer. The first NPOESS system is scheduled to be available for launch in 2008.

"The CMIS weather instrument is going to be a very capable system, with national importance. It will be an 'all weather' weather sensor that will provide significantly more capability than previous systems by having much better resolution and more channels," said Randy Brinkley, president of Boeing Satellite Systems. "With more than 100 years of accumulated weather experience, BSS is qualified to lead this team with the right technical experience base, a solid history of performance in the weather satellite business, and a good, solid technical design."

As the proposed prime contractor, BSS leads a team composed of Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) Inc. of Lexington, Mass.; Remote Sensing Systems of Santa Rosa, Calif.; Millitech of Northampton, Mass.; Honeywell Space Systems Division of Clearwater, Fla., and Integral Systems in Lanham, Md.

CMIS will be the first microwave imager/sounder to be carried on a U.S. civil weather satellite, and will be a "next-generation" instrument, incorporating better calibration and new technologies. CMIS will contain a microwave imager capable of measuring a number of environmental data records, including wind speed and direction over the ocean, and soil moisture.

It will also feature the addition of a sounder, capable of taking a "vertical picture" through the atmosphere, therefore reading temperature and humidity profiles at various atmospheric levels.

The sounder complements the data provided by the microwave imager in much the same way that three-dimensional mapping provides a more complete picture than two-dimensional mapping.

The company's previous meteorological work includes the on-orbit experience gained from five Geostationary Meteorological Satellites (GMS) built for Japan, which were launched between 1977 and 1995; and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES D through H) built for NASA, which were launched between 1980 and 1995.

BSS is currently under contract for the next-generation GOES satellites, designated "N" and "O," with options for "P" and "Q." GOES N is scheduled for launch in early 2003.

Boeing Satellite Systems' first-generation microwave sensors, the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), built for the U.S. Air Force's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, have accumulated more than 35 years of flight experience. Their Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager (TMI), built for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, has been in service for more than three years.

Boeing Satellite Systems is the world's leading manufacturer of commercial communications satellites, and is also a major provider of space systems, satellites, and payloads for national defense, science and environmental applications.

The Boeing Company, headquartered in Seattle, is the largest aerospace company in the world and the United States' leading exporter. It is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft, and the largest NASA contractor.

The company's capabilities in aerospace also include rotorcraft, electronic and defense systems, missiles, rocket engines, launch vehicles, and advanced information and communication systems. The company has an extensive global reach with customers in 145 countries and manufacturing operations throughout the United States, Canada and Australia.