Pricetag is Staggering for New Weather Satellites Say Senate Appropriators

Pricetag is Staggering for New Weather Satellites Say Senate Appropriators

In its report on the FY2011 defense appropriations bill (S. 3800, S. Rept. 111-295), the Senate Appropriations Committee calculates the cost of cancelling the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and restructuring it so that DOD and NOAA once again have separate systems at more than $20 billion, what it calls a “staggering” cost.

The total includes $5 billion already spent on NPOESS, and an estimated $15.4 billion for the replacement NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) and DOD Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS): $9.4 billion for JPSS and $6 billion for DWSS. Funding for DWSS is included in this bill. Funding for JPSS is in the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill (S. 3636, S. Rept. 111-229). The committee also expressed reservations about the cost of the restructured program in its report accompanying that bill.

Calling it “premature” for DOD to set up a program office for DWSS, the committee said there “must be a more cost-effective way for DOD to utilize NOAA’s significant investment.” The committee zeroed DOD’s $325.5 million request for NPOESS and included $50 million for DWSS specifically and only for development of unique sensors DOD needs.

User Comments



SpacePolicyOnline.com has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.  We do not post comments that include links to other websites since we have no control over that content nor can we verify the security of such links.