Meteorological Monitoring System 

ENSCO, Inc. 

Springfield, VA 
 

The Meteorological Monitoring System (MMS) provides real-time acquisition of weather data and automated detection of hazardous weather conditions.   The system reduces risk by providing support for any weather sensitive operation through hazard detection and alerting.

• Used for operational support of manned and unmanned space launches at the Kennedy Space  Center and Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida.
• First operational prototype on the Eastern Range in January, 1993.  Development of follow-on system for the Eastern Range began in February, 1996.  Delivery and testing of system  completed in June 1997 followed by full operational certification in August, 1997.  Second  development follow-on started in September, 1997.
• SBIR Phase I completed in 1990.  SBIR Phase II awarded in June, 1991.  Follow-on funding  added to Phase II contract in June, 1993.  NASA SBIR Phase III contract awarded in  February 1996 for upgrade and certification of system under the title Meteorological And  Range Safety Support (MARSS) system.  Phase III follow-on funding added in September  1997 to provide additional functionality including a 3-dimensional mesoscale prognostic  model, enhanced toxic diffusion analysis and additional data sources.
• Cumulative private capital investment by the firm to date exceeds $25,000.
• System featured at Power Industry Computer Applications (PICA) ‘97 in Columbus, Ohio. Technical paper presented at PowerGen International ‘97 in Dallas, Texas

• The system is being marketed under the title "Meteorological Monitoring System."  The current primary commercial market target is the power industry.  ENSCO has had significant interest from companies in the power industry and has featured this system at industry conferences.  This development project supports 2-4 full time personnel.
• The MMS provides functionality that exceeds other comparable products.  It supports a wide variety of input data and provides capabilities  beyond a simple display system.  The monitoring function alerts when user defined criteria have been violated by a current weather condition.  This reduces the risk of damage or injury as a result of hazardous weather
 

• The system has been marketed as the Meteorological And Range Safety Support system.  Primary market targets include U.S. and foreign test ranges.  Actual markets for this system and it predecessor have been limited to the U.S. Eastern and Western ranges.
• The next delivery of this system to NASA and the USAF will include enhanced data acquisition, mesoscale modeling and hazard prediction.
• Actual uses of this system include range safety support and weather forecasting support.  Potential uses include munitions testing and meteorological threat assessment.
• USG interest has included the U.S. Western Range and one additional test range.
• NASA SBIR Phase I - $50,000, Phase II, $610,000, Phase III initial amount $940,000 and subsequent follow on providing an additional $520,000.

 

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