The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced plans Dec. 19 to locate a satellite receiving station in India for capturing data from the future National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the National Remote Sensing Agency will host the SafetyNet receiving station. Raytheon Co. will provide the hardware.
NPOESS is designed to replace NOAA’s existing polar-orbiting satellites and the U.S. Department of Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. NPOESS spacecraft will collect and distribute Earth observation measurements to a network of 15 SafetyNet ground stations around the globe.
An NPOESS Preparatory Project satellite is slated for orbit in 2009, followed by the first NPOESS satellite in 2013.