Mantis Society Study Center: News from #AMS2018 | Air Force looks to companies, international partners in quest to improve space weather forecasting

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

News from #AMS2018 | Air Force looks to companies, international partners in quest to improve space weather forecasting

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Air Force looks to companies, international partners in quest to improve space weather forecasting

AUSTIN, Texas – The U.S. Air Force is seeking continuous improvement of its ability to understand and forecast space weather that impacts Defense Department satellites, said Ralph Stoffler, Air Force director of weather.

"This is an important business area which will continue to expand over the next several years," Stoffler said Jan. 9 at the American Meteorological Society meeting here. "We are going to throw more resources at this and get this capability up to where it needs to be."

Much of that work involves partnerships. In 2017, the Air Force established a pilot program to evaluate whether commercial providers could provide valuable space weather data. — Debra Werner

NASA prepares to buy Earth science data from small satellite constellations

AUSTIN, Texas — NASA plans to begin awarding sole source contracts in March to companies flying small satellite constellations as part of an Earth science data pilot program.

The purchase agreements will allow NASA "to basically buy data by the yard," said Sandra Cauffman, deputy director of NASA's Earth Science division.

In early December, NASA issued a request for information from companies currently flying constellations of at least three satellites to determine the types of data they are gathering. In response, the agency received 11 capability statements. — Debra Werner

NOAA prepares GOES-S for launch as Lockheed Martin builds successors

AUSTIN, Texas — As the National Oceanic and Aeronautics Administration prepares for the March 1 launch of its next Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) S on an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, prime contractor Lockheed Martin is working in Denver on its successors GOES-T and GOES-U.

GOES-S is in the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida, and "functionally, things look good," Tim Walsh, NOAA's acting system program director for the GOES-R series, said Jan. 9 at the American Meteorological Society meeting here. "Soon, we'll be stacking it on the rocket."

GOES-S, which will be renamed GOES-17 when it reaches geostationary orbit, will go into service immediately upon commissioning, Steve Volz, NOAA acting assistant secretary for environmental observation and prediction, said Jan. 9 at the AMS meeting to a round of applause from researchers eager for access to the data. Within six months of launch, NOAA plans to move the GOES-S satellite into position to serve as the GOES-west satellite, Volz added. — Debra Werner