UltiSat to Support NOAA JPSS Activities in Antarctica Under New Contract

UltiSat has won a multiyear contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Joint Polar Satellite Systems program. The deal calls for communication services in support of program partners at the National Science Foundation’s Ross Island Earth Station at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Users will be provided access to the Global Interconnect Network for terrestrial connectivity as well as to teleport facilities for access to satellite connectivity, UltiSat said Thursday.

According to David Myers, president and CEO, the RIES facility’s Antarctica location fits the company’s capability to provide resilient network and communications links in remote and harsh environments.

NOAA’s JPSS program is an environmental satellite constellation that orbits the Earth’s poles, collecting data on worldwide terrestrial, oceanic and atmospheric conditions to predict extreme weather events, advance understanding of climate change and assess environmental hazards. The Department of Defense, National Weather Service and Federal Aviation Administration are among the agencies that receive information from the program.

In June, a JPSS-2 weather-monitoring spacecraft passed thermal vacuum tests in preparation for a Nov. 1 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

JPSS forms part of the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, the government program that manages environmental satellite services. In May, NOAA issued three broad agency announcements exploring ways to develop future satellite and ground infrastructure for NESDIS.