Fri, Sep 16, 2011
Orbital Sciences To Design And Build The Satellite
NASA has selected Orbital Science
Corporation of Dulles, VA, to build the Ice, Cloud, and land
Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) spacecraft. Under the terms of the
$135 million delivery order (including the spacecraft and all
associated options), the contractor will be responsible for the
design and fabrication of the ICESat-2 spacecraft bus, integration
of the government-furnished instrument, satellite-level testing,
on-orbit satellite check-out, and continuing on-orbit engineering
support. The work will be performed at the contractor's
facility.
ICESat-2 will use precision laser-ranging techniques to measure
the topography of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and the
thickness of sea ice. The mission was recommended by the National
Research Council in its 2007 decadal survey of NASA Earth science
research priorities. ICESat-2 supports NASA's Earth science program
by helping scientists develop a better scientific understanding of
the Earth system and its response to natural or human-induced
changes.
ICESat-2 builds on measurements
taken by NASA's ICESat mission. Data from ICESat, which was in
orbit from 2003 to 2010, revealed thinning of the world's ice
sheets.
The ICESat-2 delivery order was awarded under the Rapid III
multiple awards Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract at
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The contract is
for core spacecraft systems, with non-standard services such as
operations, launch services, components, and studies to meet the
government's space science, Earth science and technology needs. The
principle purpose of the Rapid III contract is to provide core
spacecraft systems with any necessary modifications to meet
specific mission needs.
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