Lockheed Martin Secures GeoXO Lightning Mapper Contract to Enhance Severe Weather Forecasting

NASA has granted Lockheed Martin a contract to craft and develop the cutting-edge GeoXO Lightning Mapper (LMX) devices for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The base contract is estimated to be worth around $297 million for two devices with options for two more instruments.

The Features

LMX is a single-channel, near-infrared optical apparatus designed expressly to identify, locate, and gauge the force, duration, and scope of lightning discharges in near-real-time.

The LMX device captures and assesses lightning occurrences while onboard NOAA’s upcoming GeoXO weather satellites. This lightning information will supply continuous severe weather data for the Western Hemisphere, enhancing storm analysis and forecasting, and assisting in detecting tornado-producing systems. The imagers will boost hurricane intensity assessments, lightning hazard identification, wildfire ignition detection, and aviation risk mitigation.

LMX expands on the accomplishments of the first operational lightning mapper deployed in geostationary orbit—the Lockheed Martin-manufactured Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). Specifically, LMX will advance the capabilities of GLM with higher spatial definition and quicker imaging of lightning activities, as well as a broader viewing area of the Western Hemisphere, now encompassing Alaska. Lockheed Martin will develop and manufacture the LMX instruments at its facility in Sunnyvale, California.

“Lockheed Martin has built upon the achievements of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper and incorporated groundbreaking technologies into the GeoXO Lightning Mapper, including an enhanced imaging sensor that may identify 25% more lightning pulses,” stated Matthew Mahlman, director of Weather, Earth Science, and Climate Intelligence at Lockheed Martin. “This cutting-edge technology will provide meteorologists with a tool to generate extended lead time in warning individuals about severe storms and perilous weather events like rapidly intensifying hurricanes.”

Continuing the Accomplishments

The GeoXO weather satellite system represents NOAA’s next generation of satellites, following the successful Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) series—the most recent of which, GOES-U, launched on June 25, 2024. That satellite is now in geostationary orbit, currently going through on-orbit checkout and validation, and has been renamed GOES-19.

In June, NASA awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to engineer and create the GeoXO spacecraft for NOAA. The baseline contract covers three spacecraft, with options for four additional units. The total projected value of the contract, including options, is $2.27 billion, with the first launch scheduled for the early 2030s.

For more than 50 years, Lockheed Martin has engineered and constructed over 120 weather and environmental spacecraft, alongside numerous Earth observation devices for civilian, military, and commercial purposes. These unique instruments encompass the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI)—which operates on the GOES-R series satellites—as well as the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and the primary infrared imager of the James Webb Space Telescope, NIRCam.