[Satellite TODAY 08-26-11] Raytheon completed an NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) compatibility test for its Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) ground system, the company announced Aug. 25.

            Raytheon said the compatibility test consisted of 288 hours of continuous mission-like operations, exercising the flow of mission data from the Norwegian testing site and through its command, control and communications segment and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Air Force weather agencies.

            “The NPP mission was designed to provide flight experience and assess risk for JPSS instruments, the associated ground system and climate data continuity between the NASA Earth observation system missions and the first JPSS launch. However, because of recent funding reductions, NPP data will be used in operational forecasting models,” Raytheon JPSS Program Director Bill Sullivan said in a statement

            The NPP represents the system’s last major comprehensive test prior to its scheduled launch in October.