McMurdo to Provide NOAA’s SAR Cospas-Sarsat Ground Stations

Medium Earth Orbit LUTs. Photo: McMurdo

[Via Satellite 12-12-2016] The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service has awarded McMurdo, a part of Orolia Group, a $6.67 million contract. McMurdo will provide NOAA fourth generation Search and Rescue (SAR) ground stations, or Local User Terminals (LUT).

The new Low Earth Orbit (LEO)/Medium Earth Orbit LUTs (MEOLUTs) will provide search and rescue organizations, such as the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Air Force, the ability to find individuals by their activated distress beacons in expanded geographic regions. The increased coverage area includes the continental United States, Alaska, and parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The NOAA Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking (SARSAT) program is part of the international Cospas-Sarsat system. Currently, NOAA has two MEOLUTs in Florida and Hawaii, supplied and supported by McMurdo.

With one base year and four option years, the contract includes installation, training, manuals, associated operations and maintenance, engineering support, program management, human engineering and logistic support planning requirements.