CONTACT: Patricia Viets, NOAA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Douglas Isbell, NASA
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LtCol Dave Simms, DOD
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The Clinton Administration has taken a major step toward combining the country's military and civilian weather satellite programs into a single system -- a move that is expected to save taxpayers up to $300 million through 1999 with additional savings through the life of the program.
Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown, Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, and NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin signed a formal agreement on May 26, establishing the agencies' roles and responsibilities in support of the new system and implementing a Presidential Decision Directive that was signed last year.
"Combining these programs was a key recommendation of Vice President Gore's National Performance Review," said Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere D. James Baker. "The new program will result in a major reduction of acquisition, operational and facilities costs."
Currently four U.S. polar-orbiting satellites are used to collect operational meteorological, oceanographic, climatic, and space environment data. Two satellites are provided and operated by the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and two by the Department of Defense's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. The new combined program will consist of three satellites. The first satellite under the new system, called the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), is expected to be launched in 2006.
To acquire and operate the NPOESS, the Department of Defense, NASA, and NOAA have established an Integrated Program Office. James T. Mannen, a retired Air Force colonel with extensive experience in space programs, was named director of the office on May 30.
The signing of the agreement by the three agencies represents a tangible and significant step forward in interagency cooperation -- merging operational military and civilian systems, while still satisfying each agency's critical mission requirements and doing so at reduced cost to American taxpayers.