NASA has chosen Orbital Sciences (OSC) to build, launch and operate the QuikTOMS atmospheric ozone monitoring satellite.
QuikTOMS will be integrated with the OSC-built Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instrument. OSC has built five TOMS sensors for NASA, with the latest sensor launched aboard a US Earth Probe satellite in 1996.
OSC is in talks with NASA on launching the QuikTOMS as a secondary payload on a four-stage solid propellant Taurus booster in 2000. QuikTOMS will be based on an OSC Microstar satellite bus, which is the basis of 45 satellites in orbit or under production by OSC, including its Orbcomm data messaging satellites.
The QuikTOMS, part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise mission, will provide detailed information on the condition of the atmosphere's ozone layer. NASA has been monitoring changes in the ozone level since 1978, but the QuikTOMS spacecraft will provide extra data on the extent of the ozone hole over Antarctica.
Source: Flight International
