NASA has awarded ITT Industries' Aerospace/Communications Division an $8 million contract for formulation phase work on an advanced imager for the next generation of geostationary weather satellites operated and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The new Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) will be a primary instrument on NOAA's future Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) beginning with the GOES-R mission in 2008. The ABI will view the Earth from a 22,300-mile orbit over the equator gathering critical weather data for use by the National Weather Service for routine and severe storm forecasts.

ITT Industries' Imagers have a long history of service with NOAA starting with the TIROS weather satellites. Evolutionary changes to the sensors are flying on board the current GOES spacecraft as well as the Low Earth Orbit POES satellites. Similar instruments being produced by ITT will also be critical to both the European and Japanese weather forecasting systems.

The ABI is an advanced version of the current series of GOES Imagers, but will have a greater number of channels, improved spatial resolution and faster Earth coverage rates to provide more accurate measurements that will improve forecasts of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and other severe weather.

ITT's Industries' possessive partners in this formulation work include Boeing Missile Defense & Space Control's Sensor & Electronic Systems Group, Integral Systems Inc., SSG Precision Optronics, ASRC Aerospace Corporation, and Kodak.

ITT Industries, Inc. supplies advanced technology products and services in key markets including: electronic interconnects and switches; defense communications, opto-electronics, information technology and services; fluid and water management and specialty products. Headquartered in White Plains, New York, the company generated $4.8 billion in 2000 sales, and employs approximately 42,000 people around the world.

In addition to the New York Stock Exchange, ITT Industries stock is traded on the Midwest, Pacific, London, Paris and Frankfurt exchanges.