Scott Nicholas
Harris has produced an environmental measurement instrument that will launch aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s Joint Polar Satellite System-1 to support U.S. weather forecasting.
The Cross-track Infrared Sounder will serve a component of NOAA’s polar weather satellite program and is designed to analyze and feed millions of atmospheric data points into weather forecast models. Harris said Monday.
The company developed CrIS to generate three-dimensional atmospheric profiles of the planet and help meteorologists expand forecast capacities to approximately seven days.
“CrIS measurements help meteorologists create the forecasts that alert emergency managers to the potential for severe weather,” said Eric Webster, vice president of Harris’ environmental solutions business.
A NOAA-NASA team is scheduled to launch the first of four JPSS satellites on Friday at 4:47 a.m. Eastern time from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a United Launch Alliance-built Delta II rocket.
Harris previously launched a CrIS instrument as part of the joint NOAA-NASA Suomi National Polar Partnership Satellite as well as developed a primary payload for the GOES-16 satellite.
