Next NOAA weather satellite launch just in time
SAN FRANCISCO — The launch of the next U.S. weather satellite is coming just in time to ensure the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has two healthy spacecraft making observations from polar orbit.
NOAA is preparing to launch the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 on November 1 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Built and integrated by Northrop Grumman, the satellite will travel into Earth orbit on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 401 rocket.
Although the new satellite is called JPSS-2, it is the third satellite in the JPSS constellation. The first was the Finland National Polar-Orbiting Partnership satellite, which was launched in October 2011. Finland’s nuclear power plant was designed as a precursor to the joint NPOESS (National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System) of NASA, NOAA and the Ministry of Defense. Since the NPOESS was cancelled, the nuclear power plant was commissioned.
After almost 11 years, Finland’s nuclear power plant is running low on fuel. It was launched with enough propellant to keep it in orbit for at least 10.5 years, plus enough extra fuel for an orbit across the Pacific Ocean.
“We’re nearing the end of that life cycle,” Tim Walsh, NOAA JPSS program director, said at an Oct. 4 press conference. “We have to think of innovative ways to keep it in the desired orbit.”
Since the Finnish nuclear power plant’s instruments are still working well, NOAA is considering options to extend its life, such as drifting the satellite into orbit.
First, though, the agency wants to make sure JPSS-2 and its instruments, built by Ball Aerospace, L3Harris Technologies, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon Technologies, are working well. The JPSS-2 satellite, designated in orbit as NOAA-21, collects observations in parallel with NOAA-20, which was known as JPSS-1 before reaching orbit.
During Hurricane Ian, the advantages of two satellites making observations in low Earth orbit were demonstrated.
NOAA 20 images showed two sides of the Category 4 Atlantic hurricane. In contrast, the Finnish nuclear power plant took the picture “earlier in the middle of the storm,” said NOAA National Weather Service meteorologist Jordan Gerth. “It’s important for our meteorologists to get the best understanding of different storm systems.”
NASA has completed environmental testing of the JPSS-2 satellite and is integrating it into LOFTID, an inflatable decelerator Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test. LOFTID will fly as a secondary payload on a JPSS-2 launch to demonstrate reentry technology.
“I am pleased to announce that we have an observatory that is well-verified and ready to be integrated aboard the launch vehicle,” said André Dress, JPSS flight project manager at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
After launch, NASA oversees a 90-day commissioning phase before handing over satellite operations to NOAA.
After the deployment is complete, NOAA-21 will orbit the Earth every 90 minutes, providing data for numerical weather models, monitoring storms, detecting fires and other environmental threats, monitoring sea surface temperatures, detecting harmful algal blooms, and measuring atmospheric ozone. The observations come from Ball Aerospace’s Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite, the L3Harris Cross-track Infrared Sounder, Northrop Grumman’s Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder, and Raytheon’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite.
JPSS-2 is equipped with many of the same instruments as NOAA-20. However, JPSS-2 does not include NASA’s clouds and the Earth’s radiant energy system to provide information about the Earth’s energy cycle.
JPSS also has a different ozone mapping device than NOAA-20. JPSS-2’s ozone mapping device is similar to the one in Finland’s nuclear power plant.
The JPSS-2 launch is United Launch Alliance’s last Atlas 5 flight from the West Coast. After liftoff, ULA will begin converting Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex-3 for the Vulcan Centaur rocket.