http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/...r_031008s.html
Boeing Awarded $9.2 Million to Process Radar Data from Space Shuttle Endeavour
Boeing News Release
October 8, 2003
ST. LOUIS - Boeing [NYSE:BA] has received $9.2 million in
follow-on orders from the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) to
produce a digital topographic model of the Earth from radar data collected
by the space shuttle Endeavour.
This award to Boeing under NIMA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM)
program brings the total contract award to over $19 million. Boeing is one
of two prime contractors involved in the SRTM program, and is responsible
for the overall project management of its team and development of the
interactive editing system interface and editing software that is being used
to produce the data at Boeing.
To date, the team has produced over 3,000 cells of radar data over portions
of four continents with each cell being one degree of latitude by one degree
of longitude in size. Boeing's SoftPlotterŽ, a software program that
processes terrain data derived from aerial and satellite imagery, is the
production foundation for the software developed and in use by the Boeing
team.
"The development of a worldwide terrain elevation database from SRTM data
represents the first single, accurate and time synchronous source of
worldwide survey data," said John Werle, general manager of Boeing's Space
and Intelligence Systems Washington Operations. "This data is being made
available to the public and will no doubt generate many innovative and as
yet undefined capabilities that will change our lives. We are honored to be
a key player in this effort and are committed to the future of geospatial
technologies and the development of a highly accurate digital model of the
earth."
The SRTM mission flew on NASA's space shuttle Endeavour in February 2000.
The data collected are the most detailed and accurate height measurements
ever gathered for this large an area. The goal of the SRTM production system
is to produce digital topographic data for 80% of the Earth's land surface.
Automation of most tasks has reduced editing time and minimized production
costs, as compared to previous systems for producing similar data.
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and
defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, IDS is a $25 billion
business. It provides systems solutions to its global military, government
and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance; the world's largest military aircraft
manufacturer; the world's largest satellite manufacturer and a leading
provider of space-based communications; the primary systems integrator for
U.S. missile defense; NASA's largest contractor; and a global leader in
satellite launch services.
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Contact:
Joseph Tedino
Boeing Washington Operations
703-923-4054
Madonna Walsh
Boeing IDS News Bureau
314-234-1362