REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Aug. 11, 2003 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE: NOC) Space Technology sector was awarded the prestigious NASA Public Service Group Achievement Award for its work on the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments.
The public service award is the highest honor the agency gives to non-government personnel groups. It was established to acknowledge outstanding accomplishments that contribute substantially to the NASA mission.
"We are honored that the hard work, expertise and dedication of our project team has been recognized by NASA," said Steve Carman, CERES program manager, Northrop Grumman. "Even more so, we're pleased that CERES is helping scientists to understand key scientific questions about the Earth's climate. We enjoyed being part of the CERES team and working closely with NASA Langley and Goddard Space Flight Center to turn the vision of the CERES mission into a reality for the science community."
NASA cited the outstanding accomplishments of the Northrop Grumman group in the design, fabrication, assembly, test, calibration and delivery of the CERES flight-qualified instruments. NASA also stated, "All six CERES instruments' test and calibration results have demonstrated excellent radiometric performance. The on-orbit radiometric performance has been declared excellent by the CERES science team."
Northrop Grumman built six CERES instruments under contract to NASA's Langley Research Center, and delivered the first instrument in 1995. The instrument is a scanning broadband radiometer that measures the reflected sunlight and emitted thermal energy from the surface of the Earth and the atmosphere to determine the influence of clouds on the Earth's global warming and climate.
CERES instruments have flown on satellites including the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission, Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra and EOS Aqua. The sixth instrument is awaiting assignment. CERES provides a systematic and thorough observation of the Earth's radiant energy system from the polar-orbiting platforms' surface in all latitudes and at all times of the day.
Northrop Grumman is building the follow-on to CERES, called the Earth Radiation Budget Sensor (ERBS). ERBS will be a part of National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System.
Northrop Grumman Space Technology is a leading developer of satellite systems and sensors for the military and civil space markets.