Exelis Completes Testing on No. 2 GOES-R Imager Payload; Eric Webster Comments

Exelis has completed environment testing for the second of four advanced baseline imagers for the government’s next-generation weather satellite.

The imager payload will be attached to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R scheduled for a 2016 launch, Exelis said Thursday.

According to the company, the trials on the second ABI, which assess the instrument’s resiliency against harsh launch and space environments, were completed six months ahead of schedule and come seven months after the company delivered the first ABI to the agency.

NOAA expects the next-generation GOES, a joint project with NASA, to improve lead times and accuracy in its weather mapping and forecasting operations.

“Our folks have worked extremely hard and have now completed four ABI-class instruments in two years, which is a tremendous accomplishment,” said Eric Webster, vice president for weather systems at Exelis Geospatial Systems.