The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Space Commercialization (OSC) released a strategic plan designed to improve responsiveness and efficiency in space commerce. The plan describes how OSC intends to utilize conditions to improve economic growth and technological advancement within the U.S. commercial space industry.
The plan “outlines actions for facilitating U.S. industry development and reaffirms OSC’s statutory role as the principal unit for space commerce policy activities within the Commerce Department,” said retired Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.
Under the strategic plan, OSC will assist commercial space companies in their efforts to do business with the U.S. government, seek to remove institutional impediments to space commerce and increase awareness of opportunities to promote private sector investment in U.S. space commerce.
In an unrelated announcement, Lautenbacher said that NOAA and NASA are planning to restore a key climate sensor, called the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Limb, to the NPP satellite due for lofting in 2009.
The OMPS Limb measures the vertical distribution of ozone to complement the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) to gain a better understanding of the structure of the atmosphere, and move forward toward the next generation of technology for weather and climate prediction.
Lautenbacher said that the cost of the OMPS Limb, built by Northrop Grumman Space Technology, will be equally shared by NOAA and NASA for a total price of approximately $10 million.