May 20 2010
An important landmark has been achieved successfully by the international information technology and communications company Harris Corporation in a National Oceanic and Atmospheric (NOAA) initiative that will enable processing of 40 times more data than what is possible now and provide weather images to over 10,000 direct users.
The Geostationary Environmental Satellite’s Series R Ground Segment (GOES-R GS) program’s System Definition Review (SDR) has been recently concluded by Harris Corp in Melbourne. The SDR is an official ground architecture review and deals with the manner in which it will function under the total GOES-R system. The successful completion of the SDR has helped Harris in establishing a strong baseline for moving up to the initial design stage of the program.
Existing GOES satellites offer the common images along with the sequences that are time-lapsed for TV weather forecasts. NOAA uses them as basic tools for detection and tracking of severe weather events namely hurricanes, tornadoes, and thunderstorms, among others in the western hemisphere and the continental US.
The state-of-the-art GOES-R system will increase the image resolution radically and enhance the earth surfaces’ imagery coverage rate to every 5 min from the earlier every 30 min during severe weather conditions. The GOES-R system can also monitor lightning events continuously.
The GOES-R program’s ground segment receives and processes data from satellites, creates and distributes satellite data products and deals with the operational satellites’ command and control. Harris Corp is the system integrator and main contractor for the potential, 10-year $736 million contract.
Applied Research and Engineering Sciences, Atmospheric and Environmental Research Inc., Wyle Information Systems LLC, Boeing Mission Systems, Honeywell Technology Solutions and Carr Astronautics are Harris Corp’s GOES-R GS team members.
Harris Government Communications Systems’ GOES-R programs Vice President Ray Thorpe informed that the successful conclusion of the review has brought Harris a step closer to install a weather prediction system. This system will provide government agencies and national weather service forecasters an unmatched advantage to deal with severe weather situations.
Source: http://www.harris.com