The JPSS-2 spacecraft will be built on Orbital ATK’s LEOStar-3 bus, a flight-proven flexible satellite platform that can accommodate a variety of missions. While the company has completed numerous spacecraft for other scientific related missions, this contract marks Orbital ATK’s first weather operations mission. Under the new contract, Orbital will design and fabricate the JPSS spacecraft, integrate government-furnished instruments, conduct satellite-level testing, and support on-orbit check-out.
The JPSS-2 satellite will provide operational continuity of space-based weather observations, extending the successful 40-year NOAA/NASA partnership into the 2020 decade and potentially the 2030 decade with the optional satellites. The work will be performed at Orbital ATK’s satellite manufacturing facility in Gilbert, Arizona. The contract includes a firm order for the first satellite, referred to as JPSS-2, valued at $253 million and options for two additional satellites, JPSS-3 and -4, valued at $217 million. ICESat-2 will continue the precision laser-ranging topography measurements initiated by the first ICESat mission and provide invaluable data needed to assess ice sheet mass balance and sea ice thickness and to estimate biomass, helping scientists develop a better scientific understanding of the Earth system and its response to natural or human-induced changes.JPSS-2 to be built on Orbital ATK’s LEOStar-3 bus platform. One LEOStar-3 spacecraft is in production. More recent LEOStar-3 missions include GeoEye's GeoEye-1 Earth Imager, and NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Observatory and Landsat 8. The Swift mission for NASA GSFC provided never before seen insights into Gamma-ray bursts and the Coriolis mission for the Air Force and the Office of Naval Research demonstrated a new approach to measuring wind speed and direction over the oceans. The LEOStar-3 core design evolved over the years, continually upgrading performance and increasing reliability to provide value to our customers. Twelve LEOStar-3 spacecraft have been launched to date in support of missions for space and Earth science and Earth imaging. In addition, the LEOStar-3 bus is compatible with Orbital's Antares ™ launch vehicle.
This enables parallel integration and testing, reducing the overall delivery schedule, as well as reducing the potential impact of unforeseen problems, incorporation of technology upgrades, and requirements changes.Ĭustomers can procure a LEOStar-3 spacecraft bus alone or as part of a “turn-key” service that includes mission design, payload/instrument integration, full satellite system environmental testing, launch site operations, early orbit checkout, and mission operations, including instrument data delivery to principal investigators. Single or multiple payloads are easily accommodated by the externally accessible modular payload deck. Panels and aluminum frames are used that can easily be re-sized in height and diameter as needed to accommodate customer mission requirements. Six and eight sided structure designs with honeycomb Field Programmable Gate Arrays are used extensively to provide re-programmability and to reduce parts count. The LEOStar-3 architecture utilizes open frame avionics with standard backplane configurations (e.g., cPCI), and externally accessible open payload areas with simple bolt-on structural and open architecture electrical interfaces.
It is optimized for LEO missions, but can be configured to support deep-space/interplanetary, MEO, HEO, or GEO applications. The LEOStar-3 is featured in NASA Goddard’s Rapid Spacecraft Development Office (RSDO) catalog. This modularization and design re-use concept has resulted in shorter schedule times and reduced risk. For each new contract, Orbital selects the flight-proven core-design best matched for the specific mission, then scales, adapts, and optimizes the design for the mission’s needs. Originated to support long-life missions, the standard, modular bus design incorporates improvements and upgrades from Orbital's subsequent bus developments and their highly successful missions. The LEOStar-3 spacecraft is the most capable of Orbital’s buses.