A company based in upstate New York has signed a multi-million dollar contract to upgrade South Korea’s weather forecasting capabilities.
ITT Exelis, based in Rochester, won the deal over competition from Europe’s space industry.
The environmental monitoring sensors will be mounted on a geo-stationary orbiting satellite that will fly more than 22,000 miles above the Earth.
Chris Young, president of the company's Geospatial division, says the system will provide constant, near-real-time data to weather forecasters.
“This will bring their system up to essentially par with the United States from the standpoint of data continuity and data compatibility across the globe.”
ITT Exelis says South Korea will benefit greatly from the upgrade as it will help them track severe weather events like typhoons, which have caused havoc in the region.
Young says it will give them at least 30 minutes, if not hours of warning about the specific locations in the line of severe weather.
The first satellite is slated to be launched in 2017.
