Promoted content: BAE Systems building three instruments for the GeoXO mission

With the selection, BAE Systems is now contracted to build all three hyperspectral instruments for the mission, including OCX, the GeoXO Sounder (GXS), and the Atmospheric Composition Instrument (ACX).

BAE Systems is leveraging modular designs and its extensive experience managing multiple instrument programs to drive efficiencies and deliver value for the nation across the OCX, GXS, and ACX programs.  

GeoXO is a constellation developed to broaden and improve on observations made by NOAA’s current Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-R series (GOES-R) of weather satellites. The constellation is set to launch in the early 2030s, as GOES-R nears the end of its planned mission, and will continue operating through 2055. 

The BAE Systems-developed OCX instrument is a hyperspectral imager that will make high-spatial resolution observations of the Great Lakes and wide swaths of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a massive four million square feet of ocean expanding about 200 miles off American coastal regions.

By imaging ocean and lake environments across a spectrum of ultraviolet to near-infrared light, the instrument will provide the most comprehensive data ever collected on the region’s water quality, ocean biology and chemistry, ecosystem changes, and more. OCX will also provide more frequent observations than previous instruments, collecting complete surveys every two hours to reduce issues like cloud cover and allow scientists to monitor quickly changing conditions.