STC wins $163M NASA atmospheric research contract
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By
Ross Wilkers
NASA uses this contract for efforts to improve how it observes, monitors, models and understands Earth's atmosphere.
Science and Technology Corp. has won a five-year, $163.1 million contract to help NASA carry out research-and-development activities that aid in the agency’s atmospheric science programs.
NASA said Wednesday that the the Atmosphere Contract’s start date is Nov. 3 and work will primarily take place at its Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The agency set up the ATMOS program to enhance its capabilities in observing, monitoring, characterizing, modeling, understanding, and growing knowledge of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Solicitation documents released in October 2024 describe Goddard’s Earth Science Division-Atmospheres team as also seeking industry help in Earth system modeling and developing technologies needed for studies of the atmosphere.
That team is responsible for studying the structure, dynamics and microphysical properties of clouds, aerosols and precipitation with the goal of understanding interactions between Earth’s surface and the atmosphere.
STC’s capture of ATMOS unseats the incumbent Science Systems and Applications Inc. SSAI won the contract in 2017 when it was called Support for Atmospheres, Modeling, and Data Assimilation or SAMDA.
GovTribe data indicates NASA has obligated $251 million against SAMDA to-date, or 84% of the ceiling. NASA ran both the ATMOS and SAMDA competitions as small business set-asides.