Weather Forecasting is Expensive

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to build two next generation weather data collection satellites. RTT News has Lockheed's press release. The over $1 Billion contract is to build two Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series (GEOS-R) for NASA and the National Atmospheric and Oceanographic Administration (NOAA).
The first system is to be ready for launch in 2015 based on reporting. The new satellites will provide much higher amounts of data in support of weather forecasting and prediction. The award builds upon previous work done by Lockheed Martin in the area of weather satellite development, production and support.