The third of five sensors has been delivered to the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC] announced today.

That science instrument will monitor ozone from space with higher fidelity than existing instruments.

Progress should be welcomed by some lawmakers in Congress, who have criticized NPOESS for being behind schedule and over the original budget.

The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder, delivered by Northrop in 2005, was the first science instrument delivered to NPP.

Ozone in the atmosphere keeps the ultraviolet radiation of the sun from striking the Earth. The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) will measure the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere, providing information on how ozone concentration varies with altitude.

Data from OMPS will continue three decades of climate measurements of this important parameter used in global climate models. The OMPS measurements also fulfill the U.S. treaty obligation to monitor global ozone concentrations with no gaps in coverage.

Northrop, prime NPOESS contractor, is responsible for overseeing the development of sensors for NPP; Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. [BLL] built the instrument and is integrating the NPP spacecraft for Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, along with the Department of Defense, are involved in the program.

NPOESS is being developed for the NPOESS Integrated Program Office as the next- generation low-Earth orbiting operational environmental system.

OMPS is comprised of two sensors, a nadir sensor and limb sensor. Measurements from the nadir sensor are used to generate total column ozone measurements, while measurements from the limb sensor generate ozone profiles of the along-track limb scattered solar radiance.

Production of the OMPS Flight Model 2 (FM2) instrument for the first NPOESS spacecraft designated as C1 is also well underway. All three major components of the FM2 Nadir sensor are complete and in component level testing. Production of printed wiring boards for the FM2 Main Electronics Box is approximately 50 percent complete. The OMPS FM2 delivery is scheduled for December 2010, in preparation for the NPOESS C1 launch scheduled for 2013.