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Hughes Selected to Build Weather Satellites

Douglas Isbell
Headquarters, Washington, DC                     January 28, 1998
(Phone:  202/358-1753)

Allen Kenitzer
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone:  301/286-2806)

Pat Viets
NOAA/National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information 
Service, Suitland, MD
(Phone: 301/457-5005)

RELEASE: c98-b

HUGHES SELECTED TO BUILD WEATHER SATELLITES

     NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA) have awarded a $423 million contract to Hughes Space and 
Communications, El Segundo, CA, for the manufacture, launch and 
delivery on-orbit of up to four weather-monitoring Geostationary 
Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES).

     The procurement of the GOES-N through -Q spacecraft marks the 
extension of this multi-satellite program designed to provide 
continuous monitoring of the Earth's weather systems and the 
related space environment.  The new spacecraft will be used to 
continue and enhance the functions of the current GOES I-M series 
of spacecraft.  

     GOES spacecraft are a mainstay of modern weather forecasting, 
providing meteorologists and hydrologists with visible and 
infrared images of weather systems, and precise atmospheric 
soundings. They orbit above the equator at a height of 22,238 
miles, stationed at 75 degrees west longitude and 135 degrees west 
longitude to provide broad views of the Atlantic and Pacific 
oceans where storms can be monitored while first forming.

     The basic contract value of $423.1 million provides for two 
spacecraft, GOES-N and -O, at a fixed total price.  There are 
separate, fixed-price options for two additional spacecraft, GOES-
P and -Q, priced at $190.9 million and $185 million, respectively.  

     Along with these options, there are additional, separately 
priced potential contract costs.  They include Government-directed 
task assignments;  additional integration and test support; 
changes to Government-furnished equipment deliveries; program-
related launch vehicle changes; directed launch delays (due 
primarily to on-orbit satellites lasting longer than expected) and 
related spacecraft ground storage; and post-storage testing.

     The GOES program is a partnership between NOAA and NASA's 
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD.  NOAA is responsible 
for program management and budget, determining the technical 
requirements for the spacecraft, operating the spacecraft in orbit 
and disseminating the resulting data.  The NASA Goddard GOES 
project office is responsible for the acquisition of the 
spacecraft and oversight of the contract, and will support NOAA 
during the post-launch operations phase.

     The first spacecraft purchased under this contract will be 
ready for launch in October 2001.  GOES N-Q will carry an Imager 
and a Sounder to provide regular measurements of Earth's 
atmosphere, cloud cover and land surfaces.  Two of them also will 
carry a Solar X-ray Imager and Space Environment Monitor instruments.

                    -end-