NASA's NPP Climate Satellite Passes Pre-Environmental Review
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 28, 2010 The NASA National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) climate/weather satellite has successfully completed its Pre-Environmental Review (PER) at Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp's production and test facility in Boulder, Colo., and will begin flight environmental testing in the upcoming weeks. A group of multi-disciplinary experts from NASA and NOAA, as well as a number of independent reviewers conducted the pre-environmental review of the five-instrument satellite. The review team assessed the satellite test activities completed to-date, the completeness and adequacy of the environmental test plans, and determined the satellite is ready to proceed with its environmental test campaign. "We are confident that the NPP satellite systems are robust and we are preparing the satellite to undergo rigorous environmental testing," stated Ken Schwer, NPP Project Manager, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Environmental Test flow includes vibration, acoustics, shock, electromagnetic interference and compatibility and thermal vacuum, and is scheduled to begin in September. The launch is slated for October 2011. The five-instrument suite includes: the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS); the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS); the Clouds and the Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES); the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS); and the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS). NPP's advanced visible, infrared, and microwave imagers and sounders will improve the accuracy of climate observations and enhance capabilities to the nation's civil and military users of satellite data. NPP is designed to provide continuity with NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites for climate observations and to provide the operational weather community with risk reduction for the next generation of weather satellites. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the NPP mission on behalf of the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Washington.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Goddard Space Flight Center Space Technology News - Applications and Research
ISRO To Replace Two Ageing Satellites In December Chennai, India (PTI) Sep 27, 2010 The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to replace two of its ageing satellites with new ones by December, an official said Thursday. The agency is planning to send in space two rockets for the purpose. First to fly towards the heavens will be ISRO's heavy rocket - the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) - sometime during the second week of December carrying a commun ... read more |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |