Artist's concept of a future NPOESS satellite, 2006.
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) was to be the United States' next-generation satellite system that would monitor the Earth's weather, atmosphere, oceans, land, and near-space environment. NPOESS satellites were to host proven technologies and operational versions of sensors that were under operational-prototyping by NASA, at that time. The estimated launch date for the first NPOESS satellite, "C1" or "Charlie 1" was around 2013. Issues with sensor developments were the primary cited reason for delays and cost-overruns.
NPOESS was a tri-agency program led by an Integrated Program Office (IPO) containing staff from the US Department of Defense, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA.[1] NPOESS was to be operated by the NOAA/National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) / NPOESS Program Executive Office Flight Operations at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF) in Suitland, MD. TRW, later Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems (NGAS) after TRW was acquired by Northrop Grumman,[2] was the primary system integrator for the NPOESS project.[3] Raytheon, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. and Boeing were developing the sensors.
The NPOESS satellites were intended to be a replacement for both the United States Department of Defense's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and the NOAA Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) series. The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) was planned as a pathfinder mission for NPOESS. The project had to go through three Nunn-McCurdy reviews, Congressional hearings that are automatically triggered when a program goes over budget by more than 25%.[4] Suomi NPP was launched five years behind schedule, on October 28, 2011.[5][6]
The White House announced on February 1, 2010, that the NPOESS satellite partnership was to be dissolved, and that two separate lines of polar-orbiting satellites to serve military and civilian users would be pursued instead:[7]
The NOAA/NASA portion is called the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). The first satellite in the program – originally called JPSS-1, but now known as NOAA-20 – was constructed by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., under a fixed price contract of $248 million with a performance period through Feb. 1, 2015.[8] The common ground system was constructed by Raytheon. NOAA-20 launched on November 18, 2017.[9][10]
The Defense Department's portion was called the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS).[11] In January 2012, the US Air Force cancelled the program.[12]
^"TRW Awarded $2.9 Billion NPOESS Contract". August 23, 2002. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
^Wayne, Leslie (July 2, 2002). "Northrop to Buy TRW for $7.8 Billion". The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
^"NPOESS". Retrieved May 25, 2021.
^109th Congress, 2nd Session, House of Representatives. Hearing before the Committee on Science, The future of NPOESS: results of the Nunn-McCurdy review of NOAA's weather satellite program. June 8, 2006. Serial No. 109-53. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 2007
^"JPSS satellite delays risk loss of global climate data continuity". Climate Science Watch. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 12 Feb 2013.
^"Suomi NPP Mission Overview". NASA. Retrieved 12 Feb 2013.
^"White House Dissolves NPOESS Satellite Partnership". SpaceNews. 2 Feb 2010. Archived from the original on September 12, 2012. Retrieved 12 Feb 2013.
^"NASA AWARDS CONTRACT FOR JPSS-1 SPACECRAFT". NASA. 23 Sep 2010. Retrieved 12 Feb 2013.
^"U.S. Satellite Plans Falter, Imperiling Data on Storms". New York Times. October 26, 2012. Retrieved 12 Feb 2013.
^Bergin, Chris (18 November 2017). "Delta II launches on penultimate mission with JPSS-1". Retrieved 13 December 2017.
^"Outlines of Pentagon Weather Satellite Plan Starting To Emerge". SpaceNews. 30 Jun 2010. Archived from the original on September 9, 2012. Retrieved 12 Feb 2013.
^"Proposed next-generation weather satellites get the ax". Spaceflight Now. January 24, 2012.
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) was to be the United States' next-generation satellite system that would...
the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program, which was to have replaced NOAA's Polar Operational Environmental...
the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) was established in 1994 to consolidate the polar satellite operations of...
Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program. The original satellite orbit concept from the NPOESS program was divided between two sponsor...
NDE Project Management Archived 7 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine (NPOESS) Data Exploitation web site. 2008. Manoj Kumar Choubey (2012) IT Infrastructure...
May 2018, operational NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) – National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), launched October 2011...
the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) platform. Following an evaluation of the technical complexity of this task...
with several other instruments. It had been intended to also fly on the NPOESS, for which the NPP was a preparatory project, but the dissolution of that...
operational in some format. For example, the survey recommended a continuation of NPOESS (dissolved), which is now called JPSS, including instruments like VIIRS...
Operations room ca. 1977 Astronomy portal Solar System portal Space portal NPOESS - the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System...
Station Space Launch Complex 17 (CCAFS SLC-17) 1 of 19 for $1200 2011.10.28 NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) Delta II 7920-10 Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex...
1978. NDE Project Management Archived 2008-11-07 at the Wayback Machine (NPOESS) Data Exploitation web site. 2008. Alexander Kossiakoff, William N. Sweet...
50th Delta II Mission to Orbit for NASA with the Successful Launch of the NPOESS Preparatory Project" (Press release). Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.:...
RAX-2. RAX-2 launched on October 28, 2011, as a secondary payload on NASA's NPOESS Preparatory Project mission. The CubeSat launch was sponsored by NASA as...
Laboratory (NRL) launched the Coriolis satellite, a risk-reduction effort for NPOESS, aboard a Titan II launch vehicle. On 9 March 2007, six satellites were...
the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) project which itself was cancelled in January 2010. "Defense Weather Systems...
explained by natural variability alone. (NOAA) (J. Clim.) NASA launches the NPOESS Preparatory Project – the first of its next generation of polar-orbiting...
not part of POES, but use POES heritage instruments. Spaceflight portal NPOESS Suomi NPP Joint Polar Satellite System Geostationary Operational Environmental...
Programs and then Executive Vice President and Deputy Program Manager of the NPOESS program. Worked as President of Stephenson Consulting LLC. from 2008 to...
Global Information