JPSS 1 satellite. Photo: NASA

[Via Satellite 03-17-2014] Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. has applied power to the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS 1) spacecraft bus for the first time. This achievement is considered a significant milestone in order to accomplish on-time delivery to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the planned 2017 launch.

This was the first time the spacecraft bus was operated as a system with the core Electrical Power and Distribution System (EPDS) and the integrated components of the Command and Data Handling (C&DH) subsystem. Power will now be cycled on and off over the next nine months of integration and testing.

JPSS 1 is being built at the Ball Aerospace Fisher Integration Facility in Boulder, Colo., and will provide environmental monitoring that will help advance weather, climate, environmental and oceanographic science. The satellite is also the first operational version of next generation satellites to be managed by NOAA with NASA as the program’s procurement agency.

“We have now demonstrated that the core avionics are successfully integrated and in good health,” said Cary Ludtke, vice president and general manager for Ball’s operational space business unit. “Following installation and testing of satellite components and subsystems this year we’ll be ready for instrument integration at the satellite level beginning in November 2014.”