NASA Awards Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor Contract

July 10, 2009

Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1761


Cynthia M. O'Carroll
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-4647


CONTRACT RELEASE: C09-033

NASA AWARDS TOTAL AND SPECTRAL SOLAR IRRADIANCE SENSOR CONTRACT

WASHINGTON -- NASA has awarded a contract to the University of
Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
for the development of the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance
Sensor, or TSIS, a key instrument for the future National
Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, known as
NPOESS. The total estimated value of the cost, no-fee contract is
approximately $42 million.

The contractor will be responsible for the design, engineering
analyses, hardware and software development, fabrication,
integration, algorithm development, test, evaluation and support for
integration of the instrument with the NPOESS spacecraft.

The sensor will continue key climate measurements of solar irradiance
that contribute to determining the Earth's energy balance and
understanding how Earth's climate responds to solar variability. The
sensor will fly on the NPOESS, C1 mission.

NASA is developing the TSIS Flight Model 1 under a reimbursable
agreement with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or
NOAA. NPOESS is a joint program to develop the next generation of
polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites that form the
basis for weather forecasting, and is co-funded by NOAA and the
Department of Defense, with NASA as a technology provider. The NPOESS
program is managed by the interagency Integrated Program Office.

NOAA funds the instrument while NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md., manages the acquisition of the instrument for NOAA.

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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