Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Helps Boost Satellite Monitoring Severe Weather Into Space

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Helps Boost Satellite Monitoring Severe Weather
Into Space

CANOGA PARK, Calif., June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Two Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
engines helped boost the second in a series of NASA/NOAA Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellites, designated GOES-O, into orbit from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., yesterday, to help scientists monitor
severe weather that leads to tornadoes, flashfloods and hurricanes. Pratt &
Whitney Rocketdyne, a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company, powered a
United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket with a RS-68 engine and an upper stage
RL10B-2 engine. This was the 722nd launch of a Delta vehicle using Pratt &
Whitney Rocketdyne's engine power.

GOES-O was developed by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and is equipped with an advanced attitude control system that
provides enhanced image resolution and navigation to better locate severe
storms and other weather conditions. GOES-O is the second spacecraft to be
launched in the GOES-N-P series of geostationary environmental weather
satellites, which orbit at the same speed as the Earth's rotation. Being
geostationary allows the GOES to stay above a fixed point 22,300 miles above
the Earth's surface and provides constant monitoring of atmospheric conditions
that can trigger tornadoes, flash floods and hurricanes.

"An early warning system is absolutely critical when dealing with
unpredictable weather patterns that can impact so many people," said Craig
Stoker, RS-68 program manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. "Pratt & Whitney
Rocketdyne is assisting in the process of providing improved tracking and
predictive capabilities associated with atmospheric conditions that can
trigger severe weather conditions."

The upper-stage RL10B-2 helped place the satellite into orbit. "When you are
dealing with severe weather such as tornadoes, flashfloods and hurricanes, you
need a reliable system that can identify the weather systems early," said
Christine Cooley, RL10 program manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. "We are
proud to provide the upper stage propulsion enabling the placement of this
satellite into orbit."

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc., a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred
provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system
solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications,
including the main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch
vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines.

Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of
aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines.
United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company
providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and
commercial building industries.

SOURCE Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

Bryan Kidder, +1-818-586-2213, bryan.kidder@pwr.utc.com, or Carri Karuhn,
+1-818-586-4963, carri.karuhn@pwr.utc.com, both of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne