NASA has renewed a nearly $50 million contract with the University of Alaska Fairbanks for satellite services. A release from UAF says the $48.6 million dollar, five-year award is for operation of the Geophysical Institute Alaska Satellite Facility Synthetic Aperture Radar Data Center.
Synthetic aperture radar penetrate through clouds, and applications include seeing the effect of hurricane winds on the ocean to predict storm landfall, helping vessels navigate sea ice and surveying earthquake damage to facilitate emergency response. The Alaska Satellite facility employs 55 people involved in the 24-7 downlink, storage and processing of satellite data.
The renewed NASA service contract runs through September 2023.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
