Overview

As the next generation polar orbiting satellite, the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) mission will provide essential data for civil and military weather-forecasting, storm tracking, and climate-monitoring. The data from JPSS will be used by the National Weather Service in models for long-term weather forecasting and will allow scientists and forecasters to monitor and predict weather patterns with greater speed and accuracy. JPSS is also key for continuity of long-standing climate measurements.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is responsible for the management of the satellites and instruments associated with JPSS. NASA is the program’s procurement agency and leads the acquisition for JPSS.

Data and imagery obtained from JPSS will increase timeliness, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness of public warnings and forecasts of climate and weather events, thus reducing the potential loss of human life and property and advancing the national economy.

JPSS will fly a suite of advanced-technology remote sensing instruments to provide critical weather data for the nation:

• The Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)
• The Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS)
• The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS)
• The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS)- Nadir
• The Clouds and the Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES)

Our Role

Under contract to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Ball Aerospace is responsible for designing and building the JPSS-1 satellite bus, the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) instrument, integrating all instruments, and performing satellite-level testing and launch support.

The JPSS-1 spacecraft is a member of the BCP family of spacecraft designed for cost-effective, remote sensing applications. The JPSS-1 spacecraft bus is the twelfth spacecraft built by Ball Aerospace on the BCP core architecture. In all, this architecture has more than 50 years of successful on-orbit operations.