Ross Wilkers
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. will incorporate a data communication payload on a satellite the federal government will use to predict weather and measure atmospheric conditions.
The company said the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 satellite will have a five-instrument payload and use two data networks, one of them having a protocol similar to a FireWire connection.
Ball will convert the NPP spacecraft design from FireWire to a SpaceWire databus protocol for use by the infrared sounder and radiometer suite instruments.
A new Ka-band telecom system will replace an X-band data link for transmitting data back to personnel on the ground.
Ball said the satellite will provide NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administratio vertical profiles of temperature and moisture, global measurements of atmospheric and oceanic conditions and ozone measurements.
A Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture will help NASA launch the JPSS-1 satellite.
