CU-Boulder lab lands $42M NASA space-sensor contract

A University of Colorado at Boulder lab won $42 million from NASA to develop a satellite sensor that will measure the sun’s radiation — a project sped up by federal stimulus spending.

The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at CU will build the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor, or TSIS, to fly on one of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System satellites that have been planned for 15 years.

The satellite system is a joint government project of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Defense and NASA.

Northrup Grumman is the lead contractor on the project, and Boulder-based Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is a sub-contractor building a test satellite for the system.

The TSIS sensor is only one of the NPOESS instruments being built by a university, CU said in its announcement.

It was among several features of the NPOESS system to be stricken over the years in budget-cutting moves only to be restored later.

NOAA pumped $74 million in stimulus funding into TSIS and another NPOESS sensor to jump-start their development and prevent delays in the ultimate collection of climate data of the satellite system.

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colorado, was chairman of a U.S. House Representatives aerospace committee when some of the NPOESS program changes were being debated. On Friday, he praised the announcement the sensor will be built and hailed the job creation it will lead to in Colorado because CU was chosen for its development.

“Without the sensor we would have lost a 30-year record of crucial weather and climate data,” Udall’s said in a written statement. “There was a time when it was unclear whether this sensor would ever be built, so I am especially pleased to hear this news.”

By Greg Avery, Denver Business Journal
Friday July 10th, 2009