The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System — restructured capabilities for operational ocean remote sensing

The tri-agency Integrated Program Office (IPO) continues to manage the development, acquisition, and execution of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). As directed by its acquisition decision authority in 2006, the NPOESS Program restructured its acquisition baseline with an emphasis on reducing complexity and ensuring continuity of observations presently delivered by the two operational systems NPOESS will replace - the Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). Ocean observations continue to comprise nearly one-fourth of the 38 user-validated data requirements levied on the system and are drivers of the design and implementation strategy for two principal sensors: the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and the Microwave Imager-Sounder (MIS). The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) will deliver a subset of these NPOESS ocean observations for demonstration and risk reduction after its planned launch in 2010. Recent performance assessments indicate that the restructured NPOESS will continue to deliver improved operational capabilities and satisfy the critical civil and national security needs for space-based ocean observations.