NASA, University Partner on New Technology to Observe Earth

MADISON, Wis., Dec. 21 -- NASA has selected the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) at the University of Wisconsin - Madison as its partner in the development of new satellite technology to enable improved weather forecasting and monitoring of atmospheric pollutants. The university will receive $10 million in NASA funds over a five-year period under the contract, which calls for the SSEC to design and calibrate the Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS), and to write the software codes that will translate the instrument's data to make it useful to scientists and forecasters. GIFTS is based in part on technology developed at UW-Madison; NASA plans to include the device in its Earth Observing Mission 3, which is scheduled to be launched into orbit in 2003.