Ball Aerospace engineer integrates instruments onto JPSS 1. Photo: Ball Aerospace

[Via Satellite 01-29-2015] Ball Aerospace & Technologies has integrated two of the five instruments scheduled to fly on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s (NOAA) next polar-orbiting weather satellite, the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) 1. The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite-Nadir (OMPS-N), produced by Ball Aerospace, along with the Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments, built by Northrop Grumman’s aerospace systems division, are now aboard the spacecraft.

OMPS-N data is used at NOAA for numerical weather prediction and modeling as well as a variety of environmental observations while CERES measures reflected sunlight and thermal radiation emitted by the earth.

JPSS 1, which is on schedule for delivery to NOAA and launch in 2017, is critical for continuity of long-standing atmospheric, ocean and land measurements currently provided by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) mission launched in 2011. The next instrument slated for install is the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) set to arrive in February.