Jay Clemens
Orbital Sciences Corp. has won an estimated $55 million contract to launch a NASA satellite system intended to help researchers forecast weather conditions.
The Dulles, Va.-based company will work to process the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, integrate payloads into the spacecraft and install tracking, data and telemetry systems, NASA said Friday.
The University of Michigan will lead the mission, which aims to measure ocean surface winds throughout a cyclone’s life cycle with the use of microsatellites.
CYGNSS is scheduled for liftoff in October 2016 aboard Orbital’s Pegasus XL rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
NASA’s launch services program is responsible for managing the Pegasus XL’s launch services work and the agency’s Langley Research Center will lead the mission.
