An improved way to predict the path of severe storms is the impetus behind the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center awarding ITT Industries‘ Aerospace/Communications Division a $20 million contract to develop the next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES).

The GOES satellite system, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and built and designed primarily by White Plains, N.Y.-based ITT Industries, will use an advanced sensor to enhance the predictive ability of weather satellite technology. The Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) sensor will become operational on the GOES weather satellite during the GOES-R mission in 2012.

The HES device would provide National Weather Service forecasters with critical storm information, including vertical atmospheric profiles and wind vector profiles that will help to determine storm direction. ITT Industries partnered with Northrop Grumman Space Technology, DRS, ABB Bomem and SSG Precision Optics to complete work on the HES instrument.