Шесть спутников объединенной военно-гражданской полярной метеосистемы NPOESS (США) оцениваются на данный момент в 13810.2 млн $, причем за 4-й квартал 2005 г. эта оценка увеличилась на 5525.0 млн $.
"NPOESS (National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System) Program costs increased $5,525.0M (+66.7%) due primarily to technical challenges on the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite, Conical Scanning Microwave Imager Sounder, Ozone mapping Profiler Suite sensors, and spacecraft design development efforts (+1,626.6 million). There were additional increases for production cost growth for the above subsystems (+$3,374.0 million) and revised development and production schedule estimates for the above subsystems (+$455.6 million)."
Поползли слушки о том, что военные могут выйти из программы.
http://www.dodbuzz.com/2009/04/24/divorce-pentagon-style/
В июне 2008 года было объявлено о необходимости дополнительных расходов. По последним оценкам суммарная стоимость программы NPOESS может составить 13,5 – 14 млрд. долларов. Основной причиной роста затрат являются технические проблемы, с которыми столкнулась компания Raytheon в процессе создания основного научного инструмента программы – радиометра VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Sensor).
Основным подрядчиком по программе NPOESS является компания Northrop Grumman Space Technology. Запуск первого из четырех КА системы NPOESS предполагается осуществить в 2013 году. Эксплуатация системы NPOESS должна продолжаться до 2026 года.
По два с лишним милиарда за штуку! Дороже чем Аполлоны! Чтото тут не то... Может в стоимость программы включено ещё чтото типа сонмища наземных приёмных станций на каждом танке/самолёте?
Not watching the Earth from space
Satellites in the alphabet soup[/size]
Oct 15th 2009
From The Economist print edition (http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14637317)
ЦитироватьAmerica's next generation of Earth-observation satellites is in trouble
WITHOUT satellites, both forecasting the weather and studying the climate would be a lot harder than they are. Such satellites, however, need replacing from time to time, and those used by the Americans are coming to the end of their useful lives. Unfortunately, the plan for their replacement is in chaos. Indeed, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, NPOESS, as the replacement system is known, has suffered so many delays and budget increases that its whole future is in doubt. If things go badly wrong, crucial data about the climate could be lost.
It is not for want of foresight. In the mid-1990s, plans were made for a new generation of Earth-observation satellites to take over from those now in orbit. At that point, NPOESS was supposed to cost about $6.5 billion. By 2002, when the main contracts were awarded, this had inched up to $7 billion. But by 2005 it had ballooned to $10 billion and the launch of the first satellite, originally scheduled for 2006, had been delayed by almost two years.
In 2006 the programme was restructured, the launch of the first two satellites was delayed again (by three to five years), the number of sensors and satellites planned was cut, and costs had gone up to $12.5 billion. By 2008 further delays had taken the figure to $13.95 billion and a report published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in June of this year suggests it could grow to almost $15 billion before the system is finished.
According to both the GAO and an independent review team commissioned by the Integrated Programme Office (IPO) that runs the project, the root of this expense was, ironically, a desire to save money. A presidential directive had ordered the Department of Defence (DOD) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to combine their needs for meteorological data into a single satellite programme, and for these two agencies to join with the space agency, NASA, to form the IPO. This three-headed collaboration has turned out to be the monster it sounds, because the DOD and NOAA have different requirements, and nobody is really in charge. The strain this is causing within the two agencies is so great that the review team's report says the programme will not survive if the problem is not addressed. Tellingly, one of the recommendations for action is for the appropriate DOD representative to "attend and participate" in IPO executive committee meetings.
The independent review concludes that the programme has an "extraordinarily low probability of success" and that the continuity of weather and climate data is therefore now at risk. It suggests that if there is a launch failure—of which there is around a 40% chance—it is likely there will be a gap in the data lasting years. Even if this is not the case, it observes, teething problems with the first satellites in the new series could lead to a gap lasting at least several months.
Any gap would be serious. To make data from the new satellites compatible with those collected by the old ones, the new instruments have to be calibrated against the old. That means both old and new satellites need to be active at the same time. Failure to make the calibration puts the continuity of the data series at risk, making climate models based on those data less reliable.
The White House is now banging heads together, but it all takes time that the project does not have. Before Barack Obama assumed office, his team suggested that as far as the space budget was concerned, they particularly favoured Earth-observation missions. It would be another irony if this one collapsed on their watch.
В Конгрессе готов к отправке в Белый дом проект бюджета не предусматривающий дополнительного финансирорвания программы NPOESS и отменяющий соглашение о равных финансовых долях затрат на программу между ВВС и агенством по исследованию океанов и атмосферы (NOAA).
http://www.spacenews.com/policy/091211-legislation-ends-npoess-cost-sharing-arrangement.html
Ball Aerospace получила $248-миллионный контракт на постройку спутника JPSS-1 (гражданский преемник сабжа).
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_C10-058_JPSS-1_Spacecraft.html
http://www.dailycamera.com/business/ci_16158379
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/sep/HQ_C10-057_JPSS-1_Radiometer.html