(Washington, D.C.) – Today, House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Brian Babin and Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting recurring reviews of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) weather satellite programs, including its next-generation Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) program.
In the letter, the bipartisan leaders emphasize that weather satellite data "is vital for enhancing severe weather forecasts, improving tornado and hurricane warnings, detecting wildfires, and monitoring flash floods."
The letter comes as NOAA restructures the GeoXO program, reducing its planned constellation from six satellites to four and lowering its projected life-cycle cost from $19.6 billion to $12 billion. However, the Chairman and Ranking Member note that "these changes and their cost and schedule implications have not been finalized."
The Members ask GAO to assess GeoXO’s cost, schedule, performance, data continuity, and program risks, as well as the oversight and governance of NOAA’s weather satellite programs and its partnership with NASA.
To read the full letter, please click here.