home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Space & Astronomy
/
Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso
/
pc
/
text
/
jplnews1
/
0771.pr
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-04-21
|
3KB
|
59 lines
OFFICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA. TELEPHONE (213) 354-5011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
The Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Sunnyvale, Cali-
fornia has been selected for negotiation of contracts to design
and manufacture a new ocean survey satellite, called SEASAT-A, it
was announced today by Dr. W. H. Pickering, Director of the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory. JPL will manage the project for NASA's
Office of Applications.
Lockheed will provide the satellite bus, sensor module,
satellite system engineering, and system test and mission
operations services at a cost of approximately 20 million dollars.
The first research and development oceanographic satel-
lite, SEASAT-A is scheduled to be launched by an Atlas vehicle in
the spring of 1978 from the Western Test Range near Lompoc, Cali-
fornia.
The satellite, weighing approximately 4000 lbs., will
be placed in a near-polar orbit having an altitude of 480 miles.
It will circle the Earth 14 times a day covering 95% of the oceans
each 36 hours.
Satellite sensors will provide radar images of waves and
ice fields, determine the ocean topography, tides and currents,
and measure wave heights, lengths and directions, sea surface
winds and directions and sea surface temperatures. This first
global scale observations of ocean surfaces is expected to contri-
bute to a better understanding of the oceans and the air/sea in-
terface. The sensor complement consists of a radar altimeter, a
synthetic aperture imaging radar, a wind-field scatterometer, a
scanning multi-frequency microwave radiometer and a visible and
infrared scanning radiometer.
The objectives and instrumentation for the SEAST-A mis-
sion were developed with the participation of other government
agencies, institutions, universities and commercial enterprises
that have specific uses for ocean data.
SEASAT will by supported by aircraft, ships and buoys
to verify the accuracy of the measurements from orbit.
Data acquisition will be the responsibility of the
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
S. W. McCandless is the Program Manager for NASA. W.
E. Giberson is Project Manager for JPL, and J. G. Gerpheide is
the Satellite System Manager for JPL.
11-20-75
RELEASE 771