NASA and Raytheon have signed the contracts for the spacecraft and instruments that include the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1), NOAA’s next generation operational polar-orbiting satellite, planned to launch in 2017. JPSS-1 will be the successor of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite and continue weather and environmental observation. JPSS-1 will be used for numerical weather prediction models, and environmental and climate monitoring. It will provide imagery essential for tracking volcanic ash, wildfires and severe weather; and it will also gather data about Earth properties as clouds, radiation budget, water surfaces, sea surface temperature, etc. JPSS program will increase the timeliness and accuracy of NOAA’s warnings and forecasts of weather and climate events, reducing the potential loss of human life and property.
