The Raytheon Company secured a contract with NASA that enables the continued support of NASA’s Earth science data system.
FIVE YEAR CONTRACT
A five year Evolution and Development contract was awarded to the Raytheon Company by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on Tuesday, July 6.
This contract ensures Raytheon’s continued support of the Earth Observing Systems Data and Information System (EOSDIS). The company was first awarded this contract in 1992. This recent contract is the third time NASA has selected Raytheon to play a main role in the development, maintenance, operation, and improvement of its system.
NASA’S EOSDIS
The Earth Observing Systems Data and Information System was launched by NASA in 2009. The system gathers Earth science data from a variety of sources including aircraft and satellites (both NASA operated and international satellites) and makes that data available to scientists around the world.
The system can also command and control its network of satellites.
The data gathered and made available by this system includes information related to climate, geophysical processes, ocean weather, human interaction with the environment, and the sun’s interaction with Earth.
IMPROVING THE SYSTEM
Although Raytheon has been involved with the EOSDIS since 1992, the latest contract charges the company with the task of further improving the system, making it more user-friendly, and enhancing the system to accommodate the ever-growing amount of data collected and accessed.
“Raytheon is tasked with making all of NASA’s earth science data available online for scientists and researchers around the world,” says Raytheon’s vice president for Mission Modernization and sustainment Todd Probert. He continues, “The latest contract award demonstrates Raytheon’s ability to deliver innovation on a key data processing system that has grown exponentially to 9.1 petabytes of data. Our focus is on making an enormous amount of data –the equivalent of 910 copies of Wikipedia—available to researchers any time so they can continue their important work.”
The latest contract is valued at $240 million.
