NASA awards total and spectral solar irradiance sensor contract

WASHINGTON, USA: NASA has awarded a contract to the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics for the development of the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor, or TSIS, a key instrument for the future National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, known as NPOESS.

The total estimated value of the cost, no-fee contract is approximately $42 million.

The contractor will be responsible for the design, engineering analyses, hardware and software development, fabrication, integration, algorithm development, test, evaluation and support for integration of the instrument with the NPOESS spacecraft.

The sensor will continue key climate measurements of solar irradiance that contribute to determining the Earth's energy balance and understanding how Earth's climate responds to solar variability. The sensor will fly on the NPOESS, C1 mission.

NASA is developing the TSIS Flight Model 1 under a reimbursable agreement with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.

NPOESS is a joint program to develop the next generation of polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites that form the basis for weather forecasting, and is co-funded by NOAA and the Department of Defense, with NASA as a technology provider. The NPOESS program is managed by the interagency Integrated Program Office.

NOAA funds the instrument while NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the acquisition of the instrument for NOAA.