(U) National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS)

(The effects of any budget/program decisions made since the information was collected during 1997-98 are NOT reflected in the National Security Space Road Map (NSSRM).)

Overview: (U)
(U) NPOESS will combine the follow-on to the DoD's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and the NASA/NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) program.  The NPOESS program will provide operational military commanders and civilian leaders timely, quality weather information to effectively employ weapon systems and protect national resources.  At least three satellites will be required in sun synchronous 450 nm polar orbit at all times.  This program will be the nation's single source of global weather data for operational DoD and DOC use.

Description: (U)
(U) NPOESS will provide operational military commanders and civilian leaders timely, quality weather information to effectively employ weapon systems and protect national resources.  NPOESS is the full convergence of DMSP and POES into a single, national environmental sensing satellite system to provide visible and infrared cloud cover imagery and other meteorological, oceanographic, and solar-geophysical information.  This includes not only single site ground control from the Suitland Satellite Operation Control Center (SOCC), but a single bus with sensors designed to meet joint DoD and NOAA requirements.

 (U) At least three satellites will be required in sun synchronous 450 nm polar orbit at all times (sun synchronous means the satellites cross the equator at the same local sun time on each of their 14 orbits/day).  Current CONOPS call for the satellites to be operated at altitudes between 750 and 1200 km and nominal nodal crossing times of 0530, 0930, and 1330 local sun time.  

(U) Three sensor suites are currently under consideration for NPOESS: a multispectral imager suite (to provide visual and IR imagery at a minimum of seven bands mainly for clouds, surface, and ocean measurements), a microwave imager/profiler suite (to provide wind, temperature, and moisture profiles), and a space environment sensor suite (to measure parameters such as electron density profiles, precipitating auroral particles, and geomagnetic field).  One of the satellites in the NPOESS constellation will be a European METOP, which will carry U.S. sensors.  

(U) The multispectral imager (MSI) is a key sensor on NPOESS and will improve the measurement capability for fog/low cloud/high cloud discrimination as well as for detecting standing surface water and vegetation types.  It is possible that commercial multispectral imager systems used for earth resources monitoring, such as LANDSAT or SPOT, could supplement NPOESS data; the drawback is that these images are usually not available for days to weeks after they're initially obtained.  This wouldn't meet warfighter requirements.  It may also be possible to utilize IR imagery obtained from other DoD sources, if weather personnel could obtain it in a timely manner and if it provided useful information.  

User Impact: (U)
(U) To be supplied.

Programmatics: (U)
(U) Programmed.
	(U) Project Start Date: 01/1997 (2QFY1997).
	(U) IOC: 10/2008 (1QFY2009).

Related Initiatives: (U)
(U) DMSP, Improved Spectral Imager, NEMSS, POES, Titan II, Western Range

Related Requirements: (U)
(U) None.

Related Categories: (U)
(U) Environmental, Space Systems

Road Map Placements: (U)
(U) ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING, Major DoD Space Programs, National Security Space Road Map.

Lead Office: (U)
(U) DoD.

Date of Information: (U)
07 August 1997

(The effects of any budget/program decisions made since the information was collected during 1997-98 are NOT reflected in the National Security Space Road Map (NSSRM).)