Matthew Nelson
A Ball Aerospace-built ozone layer monitoring instrument has been shipped to a manufacturing facility for the third satellite in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Joint Polar Satellite System series.
The Ozone Mapping Profile Suite is intended to measure stratospheric ozone concentrations at different altitudes as part of JPSS-2 mission and combines a nadir mapper and profiler with a limb profiling technology, the company said Wednesday.
Orbital ATK, now part of Northrop Grumman, received a $253M delivery order under NASA's Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition III vehicle in 2015 to manufacture the weather satellite.
The space agency noted that Northrop will integrate OMPS and three other instruments into the spacecraft at the company's Gilbert, Arizona, facility.
"This is the third OMPS instrument Ball has delivered, with two currently in orbit providing critical ozone data," said Makenzie Lystrup, vice president and general manager of Ball Aerospace's civil space segment.
"These measurements are used by forecasters at the National Weather Service to produce ultraviolet (UV) radiation forecasts, by researchers to track the health of the ozone layer and by policy makers to help improve life on Earth."
Ball will also produce instruments for the JPSS-3 and JPSS-4 missions under a $214M contract modification awarded in April 2016.
