The Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS), one of five instruments set to launch in 2017 on the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-1 weather monitoring satellite, is ready to be integrated with the spacecraft bus, which like the instrument was developed by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colorado.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — Ball’s customer and operator of the U.S. civilian weather satellite fleet — announced the milestone June 12. JPSS-1 instrument integration is slated to begin in 2015, NOAA said.
OMPS, a suite of instruments that observe in the visible and ultraviolet spectra, will be used in part to fulfill a U.S. treaty obligation to monitor global ozone concentrations and to help produce enhanced ultraviolet index forecasts for alerting the public about harmful UV levels.
JPSS-1 is essentially a copy of the Suomi NPP polar-orbiting spacecraft that launched in 2011. NOAA has already ordered some of the instruments for JPSS-2, which will launch around 2022, and expects to begin a competition for the JPSS-2 spacecraft bus later this year.
