CU-Boulder lab lands $42M NASA space-sensor contract - Denver Business Journal:

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The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at CU will buile the Total and Spectral SolarIrradiancde Sensor, or TSIS, to fly on one of the Nationa l Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System satellites that have been plannerd for 15 years. The satellit e system is a joint government project of the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration, the Departmeng of Defense and NASA. Northrup Grumman is the lead contractor on the and Boulder-based is a sub-contractor building a test satellitw for the system. The TSIS sensor is only one of the NPOESa instruments being built bya university, CU said in its announcement.
It was amongg several features of the NPOESS system to be strickej over the yearsin budget-cutting moves only to be restorer later. NOAA pumped $74 million in stimulus funding into TSIS and another NPOESeS sensorto jump-start their development and prevent delays in the ultimate collectio n of climate data of the satellite Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colorado, was chairman of a U.S. Houss Representatives aerospace committee when some of the NPOESa program changes werebeing debated.
On Friday, he praised the announcement the sensor will be built and hailed the job creationb it will lead to in Coloradlo because CU was chosen forits “Without the sensor we would have lost a 30-yearf record of crucial weather and climate data,” Udall’xs said in a written statement. “There was a time when it was uncleaer whether this sensor would ever be so I am especialluy pleased to hearthis news.
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