The JPSS Mission

The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the Nation's next generation polar-orbiting operational environmental satellite system, procured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). JPSS will provide continuity of critical observations for accurate weather forecasting, reliable severe storm outlooks, global measurements of atmospheric and oceanic conditions such as sea surface temperatures, ozone, and more. JPSS will also monitor rescue beacons to help save lives through the international SARSAT program and continue support for the French provided Advanced Data Collection System (ADCS).

JPSS represents significant technological and scientific advances in environmental monitoring and will help advance environmental, weather, climate, and oceanographic science. JPSS's primary user, NOAA's National Weather Service, will use the JPSS data in models for medium- and long-term weather forecasting. JPSS will allow scientists and forecasters to monitor and predict weather patterns with greater speed and accuracy and is key for continuity of long-standing climate measurements, allowing study of long-term climate trends. JPSS will improve and extend climate measurements for 30 different Environmental Data Records of the atmosphere, land, ocean, climate, and space environment.

Spacecraft and Payload

JPSS will provide operational continuity of satellite-based observations and products for NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) mission. The first JPSS spacecraft, JPSS-1, will take advantage of technologies developed through the Suomi NPP satellite which was launched on October 28, 2011. The JPSS payload of Scientific Instruments includes:

• Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)
• Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS)
• Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS)
• Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite –Nadir (OMPS-Nadir)
• Cloud and Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES)
• Total Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS)

JPSS
Instruments

In addition to its scientific instruments, JPSS also integrates sensors from NOAA Climate Sensor Program and data communications packages (ADCS and SARSAT).

NOAA Satellites

NOAA weather satellites have provided US Citizens with advance warning of extreme weather for over 50 years. Satellites are vital for the weather forecasts NOAA provides to the American public, farmers, Federal, State, and Local Government agencies, businesses, and emergency managers. The frequency and severity of the extreme weather events as recent as 2011 serve as a reminder of the importance of maintaining all the critical tools necessary for accurate weather forecasting, including these observations provided by satellites

NOAA operates satellites in two complementary orbits: Geostationary satellites, which constantly monitor a fixed area on the Earth from a perch over 22,000 miles above the Earth; and Polar-Orbiting satellites, which circle the Earth around 500 miles above the surface providing information and observations over the entire Earth - land, ocean and atmosphere, from pole to pole.