NASA (www.nasa.gov) has exercised options under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition III (Rapid III) contract for two additional Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) spacecraft, to be built for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Orbital ATK of Dulles, Virginia, will build NOAA’s JPSS-3 and -4. The contract value is $460 million and the ‘period of performance’ will extend through to 2026.

The work will be undertaken at Orbital ATK’s facility in Gilbert, Arizona. Orbital is developing the JPSS-2 spacecraft.

JPSS satellites collect global multi-spectral radiometry and other specialised meteorological and oceanographic data via remote sensing of land, sea and atmospheric properties.

These data support NOAA’s continuous observation of Earth’s environment to understand and predict changes in weather, climate, oceans and coasts.

NOAA funds the JPSS missions, and NASA is the acquisition agent for the flight systems, launch services and components of the ground system.