NOAA operates a constellation of geostationary environmental satellites that help to protect life and property across the Western Hemisphere. The new Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) program is the follow-on to the current Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites–R (GOES-R) Series program.
NASA announced plans to issue the GeoXO draft RFP in a pre-solicitation
document released Wednesday.
“The GeoXO Program is procuring spacecraft for the GeoXO
series that includes three satellites operating in geostationary orbit at an
east, west, and center location,” NASA said in the pre-solicitation notice. “The
GeoXO spacecraft will support three instruments each. The east and west
spacecraft will be referred to as GeoI and will support an Imager Instrument,
Lightning Mapper Instrument, and Ocean Color Instrument.”
NASA has already selected L3Harris Technologies, Inc., of Fort
Wayne, Ind., to develop the imager for the GeoXO satellite program.
The imager contract alone is valued at approximately $765.5
million. It includes the development of two flight instruments as well as
options for additional units.
The instrument will provide real-time, high-resolution
visible and infrared imagery for monitoring the Western Hemisphere’s weather,
ocean, and environment.
A third GeoXO center spacecraft in orbit will be referred to
as GeoS and will support a Sounder Instrument, Atmospheric Composition
Instrument, and Partner Payload.
The east and west spacecraft will also support an auxiliary
communication payload for the NOAA Data Collection System supporting relay,
dissemination, and commanding.
The draft RFP to be released next month will include the
base contract and all options, which will consist of a total of seven spacecraft.
There are launches planned for the first six spacecraft and the seventh
spacecraft designated as an upscope with no current launch date.
“It is anticipated that this competitive procurement will
result in a Cost-Plus-Award-Fee hardware contract for the development of three
spacecraft, and four options, three for additional spacecraft and an upscope
option for a fourth spacecraft with no current launch date,” NASA said.
The anticipated period of performance for this contract
includes support for 10 years of on-orbit operations and five years of on-orbit
storage, for a total of 15 years for each spacecraft. The anticipated contract
award date is late May 2024.
The anticipated release of the Draft RFP is in early to mid-August,
and the anticipated release of the Final RFP is in late September to early October,
NASA officials said.
In July 2022, NASA selected Lockheed Martin Space and Maxar Space LLC to perform a GeoXO Spacecraft Phase A Study. The purpose of the contracts
was to help define the spacecraft’s potential performance, risks, costs, and
development leading up to implementation.
The current GEOS-R satellites in Earth orbit were manufactured by Lockheed Martin.
