NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has awarded four contracts to conduct NOAA’s Sounder for Microwave-Based Applications (SMBA) Phase-A study.
The firm-fixed-price contracts allow for a Phase A definition study and design development as part of SMBA formulation activities. The period of performance runs 12 months.
NOAA’s Near-Earth Orbit Network (NEON) program is responsible for SMBA instruments, the next generation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) microwave sounders. Microwave sounders provide critical data on the physical properties of our atmosphere, such as temperature and moisture, which heavily influence weather patterns and enable the NOAA National Weather Service’s numerical weather models to forecast weather three days in the future and beyond.
SMBA would fly on NOAA’s NEON program series of LEO satellites with the first launch planned in 2030.