Lockheed Martin announced Oct. 31 it received a $10 million, six-month contract from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the program definition and risk reduction phase of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) next generation environmental satellite system.

GOES-R satellites will carry instruments that improve the ability to observe the Earth and the sun and is expected to lead to more accurate predictions of the intensity and landfall of hurricanes with longer lead times than today. GOES-R also will carry a coastal waters imager capable of viewing the entire U.S. coastline every three hours at high resolution, allowing scientists to evaluate the ocean’s biological productivity, detect harmful algae blooms and assess coastal zones after severe storms for protection of fragile ecosystems.

Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co. announced Oct. 28 they had received a similar contract from NOAA.