The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) gave Harris Corp. [HRS] a $736 million, 10-year contract to work on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite – Series R Ground Segment (GOES-R GS).
GOES-R will provide data including warnings of severe weather.
Harris is the prime contractor and systems integrator for the ground segment. Other contractors on the team are Atmospheric and Environmental Research Inc., The Boeing Co. [BA] unit Mission Operations, Carr Astronautics, Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc., Wyle Information Systems LLC, and Applied Research and Engineering Sciences.
They will design, develop, deploy and operate the GOES-R ground segment, which will receive and process satellite data, and generate and distribute weather data to more than 10,000 direct users.
Harris also will provide command and control of operational satellites. They will provide a service-based, open-architecture solution that will accommodate the anticipated 40- times increase in data to be ingested, processed and distributed. The first launch of a GOES-R series satellite is scheduled for 2015.
Current GOES satellites provide images and time-lapse sequences familiar to most Americans because they are commonly used in television weather forecasts. The satellites are the primary tool used by NOAA to detect and track hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes and other severe weather in the continental U.S. and the western hemisphere. Next-generation GOES-R satellites will provide significantly improved image resolution and increase the rate of imagery coverage of earth surfaces from every 30 minutes to every 5 minutes in normal conditions, and every 30 seconds during periods of severe weather.
The GOES-R program has drawn criticism from some members of Congress, and from the Government Accountability Office, the watchdog agency, which at times has expressed concern about rising costs and delays in the program. However, that concern focuses mainly on the space portion of the system, as opposed to the ground segment.
Boeing protested to GAO the award of the $1.09 billion GOES-R satellite contract to Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT].
In the GOES-R satellite competition, eventually up to four satellites worth billions of dollars could be the ultimate prize.
Boeing until now has built the GOES, or geostationary orbiting satellite series.