The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the latest generation of U.S. polar-orbiting, non-geosynchronous, environmental satellites. JPSS will provide the global environmental data used in numerical weather prediction models for forecasts, and scientific data used for climate monitoring. JPSS will aid in fulfilling the mission of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency of the Department of Commerce. Data and imagery obtained from the JPSS will increase timeliness and accuracy 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. The JPSS is developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who is responsible for operation of JPSS. Three to five satellites are planned for the JPSS constellation of satellites. JPSS satellites will be flown, and the scientific data from JPSS will be processed, by the JPSS – Common Ground System (JPSS-CGS).
The first satellite in the JPSS is the Suomi NPP satellite, which launched on October 28, 2011. This was followed by JPSS-1, which was launched on November 18, 2017, three years later than originally anticipated when the contract was awarded in 2010. On November 21, 2017, after reaching its final orbit, JPSS-1 was renamed NOAA-20. The third satellite has been launched on November 10, 2022 with two more satellites scheduled to be launched. In addition, the TSI Calibration Transfer Experiment, launched on the U.S. Air Force Space Test Program Satellite-3 (STPSat-3) on November 19, 2013, is also part of JPSS.
History The United States has had two main polar orbiting satellite programs which both began in the 1960s. NOAA's POES (Polar Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite) series and the USAF's DMSP (Defense Metrological Satellite Program). JPSS was created by the White House in February 2010 following the restructuring dissolution of the National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program. The original satellite orbit concept from the NPOESS program was divided between two sponsor agencies: NOAA was given responsibility for the afternoon orbit, while environmental measurements from morning orbit were to be obtained from the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS). DWSS was cancelled in April 2012. The military will continue to rely on the Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) constellation of satellites until the Weather System Follow-on satellites are operational. An independent review team (IRT) was assigned to provide an independent assessment of the total NOAA satellite enterprise, including JPSS. Its findings were published in 2012.
Purpose Data imagery obtained from the Joint Polar Satellite System will increase timeliness and accuracy of public warnings such as predictions of climate, weather, and natural hazards, thus reducing the potential loss of human life, property and advancing the national economy. JPSS will replace the current Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES), managed by NOAA and the ground processing component of both POES and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). Operational environmental requirements from polar-orbit are also met by the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) (now called the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership or Suomi NPP or S-NPP), which launched October 28, 2011. Data from the JPSS system shall be made freely available, by the United States Government, to domestic and international users, in support of U.S. commitments for the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS).
Instruments The JPSS satellites will carry a suite of sensors designed to collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological, and solar-geophysical observations of the earth land, oceans, atmosphere, and near-earth space. JPSS Sensors/Instruments:
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