JPSS 1. Photo: Ball Aerospace

[Via Satellite 04-25-2016] The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS 1) satellite has entered environmental testing in preparation for the spacecraft’s early 2017 launch. Ball Aerospace, the company responsible for designing and building the satellite, along with its Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite-Nadir instrument, is testing JPSS 1 at its Fisher Complex in Boulder, Colo., in the same facility where the spacecraft was built and integrated.

JPSS 1 is designed to improve severe weather prediction and environmental monitoring, and will further weather, climate, environmental and oceanographic science. Ball Aerospace, Northrop Grumman, Harris Corporation, Raytheon and NASA’s Langley Research Center are each providing one of the five instruments the satellite will carry. NOAA is funding the mission, and NASA is serving as the acquisition agent for the flight systems, launch services, and components of the ground segment.

Following acoustic, vibration, and electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility testing, the satellite will undergo thermal vacuum testing from July through early fall. Environmental testing of the spacecraft and integrated instruments subjects the system to the simulated environments of launch and space to help certify mission readiness.