March 4, 2013

Image Caption: Artist's concept of the Suomi NPP satellite in space. Credit: NASA/Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio/Ryan Zuber

NASA

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite, a partnership between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was transitioned to NOAA operational organization control Feb. 22, 2013. The transition marks the next step of the mission that supports NASAs Earth science research and NOAAs weather forecasting missions.

Suomi NPP continues the observations of Earth from space that were pioneered by NASAs Earth Observing System. The satellites five instruments are providing scientists with data to extend more than 30 key long-term datasets. These records, which include observations of the ozone layer, land cover, atmospheric temperatures and ice cover, provide critical data for global change science.

Suomi NPP is an important asset for NASA, NOAA, and the nation, said Michael Freilich, director of the Earth Science Division in NASAs Science Mission Directorate in Washington. As a true collaboration in which all partners benefit, Suomi NPP measurements are supporting researchers and weather forecasters alike.

Suomi NPP also collects critical data for our understanding of long-term climate change while increasing our ability to improve weather forecasts in the short term. NOAA meteorologists are incorporating Suomi NPP information into their weather prediction models to produce forecasts and warnings that already are helping emergency responders anticipate, monitor, and react to many types of natural events.

Satellites like Suomi NPP are critical to the National Weather Services mission and improved decision support services, said Louis Uccellini, director of NOAAs National Weather Service. These polar satellites provide an important dataset for the global Earth-observing system and will lead to improved forecasts out to three days in the future and beyond.

The Suomi NPP mission is a bridge between NASAs legacy Earth-observing missions and NOAAs next-generation Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). Suomi NPP carries groundbreaking new Earth-observing instruments that JPSS will use operationally. The first satellite in the JPSS series, JPSS-1, is targeted for launch in early 2017.

NASA launched Suomi NPP Oct. 28, 2011, from California. Since then, the JPSS program based at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt., Md., has been helping maintain the Suomi NPP instruments in addition to providing the ground system, with NOAA institutional organizations providing operational mission support. The NOAA operations group now assumes responsibility for Suomi NPP.

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Operational Control Of Environmental Satellite Transferred By NASA