The Naval Research Laboratory
(NRL) is developing the Navy Earth Map Observer (NEMO) imaging
satellite program, in partnership with the Space Technology Development
Corporation (STDC) of Arlington, Virginia. On December 12, 1997,
the Office of Naval Research (ONR) signed an agreement with STDC
for the development of NEMO. NRL is a strategic partner in this
dual-use research and development program.
The NEMO program agreement is
a unique partnership between government, principally NRL, and
industry. The program leverages the best Navy-developed satellite,
remote sensing and processing technologies from NRL's Naval Center
for Space Technology (NCST) and Remote Sensing Division, with
off-the-shelf components, technology and business acumen from
industry, according to NRL's Mr. Tom Wilson, NEMO program manager.
The resultant dual-use research and development program will
satisfy both government and industry's needs for earth image
data from space. The technology developed by NRL will transition
to industry, while government and industry will share program
cost.
The program will demonstrate
and refine a new imaging technology from space, Hyperspectral
Imaging (HSI), that will augment and enhance the traditional
remote sensing techniques used today. These images will assist
the Navy's future research efforts in defining and modeling the
global littoral ocean. The NEMO images are invaluable to commercial
enterprise for assessment of geology, agriculture and the natural
environment. Image data products from this system will be processed
in real-time by NRL's onboard parallel processor, a "super
computer" in space, using NRL's patented ORASIS spectral
recognition algorithm.
ONR's Naval Space Science and
Technology Program Office will serve as the government's sponsoring
organization. STDC is the commercial program manager and has
received a Joint Dual Use Applications Program award from DARPA
for the NEMO program . The other commercial partners with STDC
include Space Systems/Loral, Palo Alto, CA; AlliedSignal Technical
Services Corp., Columbia, MD; and Applied Coherent Technology
Corp., Herndon, VA.
NRL is the program technical
manager and is responsible for systems engineering. Final integration
of the instrument payload with a commercial off-the-shelf GLOBALSTARTM
(GSB 400) spacecraft bus will occur at NRL's NCST. Many of the
Navy's personnel assigned to this program also participated in
the highly successful CLEMENTINE program in 1994. The NCST has
been responsible for more than 32 launches and 84 payloads in
the past thirty years.
The Navy data will be processed,
distributed and archived at NRL's National Center for Hyperspectral
Research. STDC will offer its imagery and products to the commercial
marketplace through EarthMap, Inc., a subsidiary.
"The partnering of NRL and
industry in this research program is an important demonstration
of dual-use research and development in practice, and is a clear
example of leveraging military developed technology for commercial
use," said CAPT Bruce Buckley, NRL's Commanding Officer.
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is the Navy's full-spectrum corporate laboratory, conducting a broadly based multidisciplinary program of scientific research and advanced technological development. The Laboratory, with a total complement of nearly 2,500 personnel, is located in southwest Washington, D.C., with other major sites at the Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Monterey, Calif. NRL has served the Navy and the nation for over 85 years and continues to meet the complex technological challenges of today's world. For more information, visit the NRL homepage or join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
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