Exelis‘ (NYSE: XLS) geospatial systems division has received a $221 million contract modification from NASA to continue support for the agency’s Joint Polar Satellite System-2 mission for an additional three years.
The contract covers work to manufacture, test, deliver, integrate and perform launch and post-launch support of the Cross-track Infrared Sounder instrument for the JPSS-2 mission, NASA said Monday.
NASA extended the contract’s performance period to between November 2018 and May 2021.
CrIS will work to collect data on atmospheric temperature, trace gases and water vapor as NASA aims to help improve short- and long-term forecasts of precipitation, weather patterns and storm tracks.
JPSS-2 is scheduled for launch in 2021, four years after the planned launch of JPSS-1, which NASA said will carry a similiar CrIS instrument.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funds the JPSS-2 mission.
