TRW HAS BEEN awarded a $398 million NASA contract to build the Earth Observing System (EOS) PM-1 and Chemistry 1 spacecraft, to be launched in 2000 and 2002, with an option to build two more craft, bringing its potential worth to $668 million.
The craft will be based on the company's AM1200 EOS Common Spacecraft bus. The first EOS craft called EOS AM, is a larger satellite being built by Lockheed Martin. It will be launched in 1998. The EOS fleet was to have included large spacecraft buses, but budgetary restraint has resulted in a redefinition of the programme.
NASA's EOS programme is part of its Mission to Planet Earth programme, but its $1.34 million budget is under attack from the US Congress.
Source: Flight International