A/CD’s rugged new interferometers are the heart and soul of CrIS, the Cross-Track Infrared Sounders that will be on board the next-generation NPOESS weather satellites.

NPOESS represents a number of advances in weather forecasting. When the first satellite is sent into orbit in 2006, CrIS will become the first full-time operational interferometer in space, and the mission will mark the first joint military and civilian weather satellite program.

The satellites will circle 520 miles above the earth, measuring the infrared energy being generated at different altitudes of the atmosphere and calculating temperature and moisture levels. These hyperspectral measurements will generate the highest resolutions ever available from weather satellites. In the weather world, it’s the difference between a dot-matrix printer and a high-end printing press and means clearer days are ahead for forecasters.