Jane Edwards
Orbital ATK has wrapped up a critical design review of the second Joint Polar Satellite System.
The company said Friday it partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA to carry out the review to assess whether the JPSS-2 spacecraft program meets schedule and system requirements.
The CDR phase also sought to evaluate the firm’s capability to integrate five government-provided instruments into the satellite and support launch and on-orbit checkout operations.
The satellite will be based on Orbital ATK’s LEOStar-3 satellite bus and will work to perform weather forecasting and environmental hazard assessment operations.
Orbital ATK expects to complete development work on JPSS-2 in 2020 through its production facility in Gilbert, Arizona.
The company designs and builds JPSS-2 under a potential $253 million delivery order that NASA awarded in March 2015 and contains options for two more polar-orbiting satellites – JPSS-3 and JPSS-4.
NOAA and NASA launched the JPSS-1 satellite on Nov. 18 aboard a United Launch Alliance-built Delta II rocket that took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
