The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Next Generation U.S. Earth Observation System

摘要

The tri-agency Integrated Program Office (IPO) is responsible for managing the development of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). Later this decade, the IPO will begin launching NPOESS spacecraft into three orbital planes to provide significantly improved operational capabilities and benefits to satisfy critical civil and national security requirements for space-based, remotely sensed environmental data. With the development of NPOESS, we are evolving operational "weather" satellites into integrated environmental observing systems by expanding our capabilities to observe, assess, and predict the total Earth system - atmosphere, ocean, land, and the space environment. The higher resolution data from NPOESS will enable more accurate short-term weather forecasts and severe storm warnings. As one cornerstone of an Integrated Global Observing System, NPOESS will also provide sustained, space-based measurements to ensure continuity of data for monitoring, understanding, and predicting climate change and its impacts on seasonal and longer time scales.