A Northrop Grumman Corporation-led team successfully completed its most recent major system-wide milestone — the delta preliminary design review (PDR) — on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program. NPOESS will provide military and civilian users with timely, high-fidelity regional and global meteorological data on the Earth’s oceans, land surfaces, atmosphere and space environment.
PDR consisted of a thorough review of the entire system design in relation to its performance and interface requirements and concept of operations. It is the culmination of hundreds of hours of detailed preliminary design audits of the space segment, ground segments and program operations support.
“We’re confident that our design is going to meet system requirements,” said Fred Ricker, Northrop Grumman Space Technology vice president and NPOESS program director. “The collaborative effort and hard work by our industry and government team made this review a success. I want to thank everyone for their commitment to this program’s long-term success.”
Approximately 300 participants from the United States Departments of Commerce, Defense and NASA, as well as NPOESS teammates attended the review at Northrop Grumman Space Technology’s Redondo Beach headquarters from June 13-17. The company’s Space Technology sector is prime contractor for NPOESS, leading a team of software, sensor, data-processing and spacecraft suppliers in the design and development of the United States’ next-generation environmental-monitoring satellite system.
The program continues to reach significant milestones, most recently achieving qualification testing of the third software increment for the command, control, and communications segment – which includes the delivery of more than 1.7 million lines of code and 40 racks of equipment on time and on budget.
In addition, key sensors that will monitor the Earth’s environment are progressing through the technically challenging development phase. Focal planes for the first Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite — a sensor that collects data to help calculate the distribution of ozone in the atmosphere — were completed in March.
The engineering design unit for the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite, which collects visible and infrared radiometric data on the Earth’s atmosphere, ocean and land surface, has been successfully achieving scheduled milestones while undergoing ambient temperature testing since December.
NPOESS consists of satellites, a ground-control system and a data-processing/dissemination network that will make environmental data available to users in less than 30 minutes from the observation time.
Northrop Grumman Space Technology, based in Redondo Beach, Calif., develops a broad range of systems at the leading edge of space, defense, and electronics technology. The sector creates products for U.S. military and civilian customers who contribute significantly to the nation’s security and leadership in science and technology.
