SAN FRANCISCO – BAE Systems won a $230.6 million NASA contract to deliver spacecraft for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency’s Lagrange 1 Series space weather project.
Under the firm-fixed-price award, announced Feb. 21, BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems, formerly Ball Aerospace, will develop Lagrange 1 Series spacecraft, integrate instruments, and support flight and mission operations. Contract-related work, scheduled to begin this month, will be performed in Boulder, Colorado, through January 2034.
The Lagrange 1 Series, part of NOAA’s Space Weather Next program, is designed to provide continuity of coronal imagery and upstream solar wind measurements, with spacecraft expected to launch in 2029 and 2032. BAE Systems also is building the Space Weather Follow On Lagrange 1 mission set to fly no earlier than September on NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe.
Observations of the sun and space environment near Earth provide satellite operators with forecasts and warnings of extreme events. During the recent geomagnetic storms, those alerts helped to mitigate the impact on the terrestrial electric power grid, air travel, communications and navigation.
NASA and NOAA will work together to oversee development, launch testing and operation of Lagrange 1 Series satellites. NOAA determines program requirements, provides funding, manages operations and disseminates data gathered by the spacecraft. NASA works with the companies building spacecraft, instruments and launching the satellites.
NASA awarded BAE the Lagrange 1 Series delivery order under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV contract. The Rapid IV contract mechanism is a tool to speed up acquisition of spacecraft, instruments and services for U.S government agencies.
