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NOAA, GSA officially open new environmental satellite center (Forwarded)



 
 
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Old June 22nd 07, 03:43 PM posted to sci.space.news
Andrew Yee[_1_]
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Default NOAA, GSA officially open new environmental satellite center (Forwarded)

NOAA
Washington, D.C.

Media Contact:
John Leslie, NOAA Satellite and Information Service
(301) 713-1265

June 11, 2007

NOAA, GSA OFFICIALLY OPEN NEW ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE CENTER

Award-Winning Facility Houses $50 Million in High-Tech Equipment, Controls
Satellites Worth $4.7 Billion

The new home for NOAA's around-the-clock, environmental satellite
operations, which provides data critical for weather and climate prediction,
was officially opened today at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Suitland, Md.
Top leaders from NOAA, the U.S. General Services Administration and several
U.S. Congressional representatives from Maryland, said the NOAA Satellite
Operations Facility (NSOF) signifies America's solid commitment to providing
the best possible environmental satellite services.

"The NOAA Satellite Operations Facility is a first-class center, with
first-class technology and operations that supply essential satellite data
to forecasters in order to produce the most accurate projections possible.
Such a facility has a significant role in, for example, predicting where
hurricanes will form, and when and where they will strike," said retired
Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce
for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

Tropical regions of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and
East Pacific, are continuously monitored by NOAA's geostationary (GOES)
weather satellites and the resulting satellite imagery are utilized by
National Hurricane Center forecasters and are available to the media and the
public. Hundreds of images are taken of a given storm.

Each day, NSOF processes more than 16 billion bytes of environmental
satellite data from NOAA's geostationary and polar-orbiting spacecraft, and
the Department of Defense's Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). The
NOAA National Weather Service uses these data for constant tracking of
severe weather, and as inputs into models for medium to long range forecasts
for weather and tracking climate change. NSOF, which spans 208,271 gross
square feet, supports more than $50 million of high technology equipment,
including 16 antennas that control more than $4.7 billion worth of
environmental spacecraft.

"NOAA and its employees are world-class -- from the researchers to the
scientists, forecasters and satellite experts. They are working everyday to
save lives and livelihoods. The nation depends on them to help local weather
forecasters get it right so our citizens can secure their property and
protect their families, and to assist in search and rescue operations for
lost mariners," said Senator Barbara A. Mikulski. "They deserve a
world-class facility so they can do their job and meet NOAA's mission and
mandate."

"This remarkable facility is the culmination of a successful partnership
between NOAA, the GSA, Prince George's County, and private-sector partners,
giving us the opportunity to better monitor global climate change and its
impact on Maryland," said Senator Benjamin L. Cardin. "Additionally, its
environmentally friendly design demonstrates that the federal government can
be a leader in changing the way Americans think about constructing energy
efficient buildings."

NSOF, situated on the Suitland Federal Center campus, was designed by the
firm Morphosis/Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering, P.C., and
has already received several awards, including the GSA Design Award for
2002. Thom Mayne, head of Morphosis, received the industry's coveted
Pritzker Architecture Prize for NSOF's design. A key design feature of NSOF,
which is mostly located underground, is the grass roof, covering 146,000
square feet.

At a total cost of $81 million, including both NOAA and GSA funding, NSOF
houses 549 employees consisting of personnel from NOAA, Department of
Defense, U.S. Coast Guard, NASA and government contractors. Operations based
at NSOF include: NOAA's Satellite Operations Control Center, which provides
command, control and communications for NOAA's satellites and DMSP; a
computer center that processes the satellite data; the U.S. Mission Control
Center for the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking program, called
COSPAS-SARSAT, and the National Ice Center, operated by NOAA, the U.S. Navy
and U.S. Coast Guard.

NSOF is also gearing up to provide support for NOAA's next generation
satellite series -- the National Polar-orbiting Operational Satellite
System, or NPOESS, and GOES-R.

"With the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility, NOAA will continue as a leader
in satellite operations that provide real benefits to each American," said
Mary E. Kizca, assistant administrator for the NOAA Satellite and
Information Service.

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is celebrating 200 years of
science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of
the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau
and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's
scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through
the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and
providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine
resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems
(GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners and nearly 60 countries
to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet
it observes.

Relevant Web Sites:

* NOAA
http://www.noaa.gov/
* NOAA Satellite and Information Service
http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/

IMAGE CAPTIONS:

[Image 1:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories.../dscn0523b.jpg (102KB)]
Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in
Suitland, Md. Please credit "NOAA."

[Image 2:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories.../img_3167b.jpg (174KB)
Image 3:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories.../dscn0702b.jpg (183KB)
Image 4:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories.../dscn0703b.jpg (215KB)]
New NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Md. Please credit
"NOAA."
 




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