Maintaining JPSS Product Quality

NASA and NOAA are jointly acquiring the next-generation civilian weather satellite system: the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). JPSS replaced the afternoon orbit component and ground processing system of the old POES system managed by the NOAA. JPSS satellites will carry sensors designed to collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological, and solar-geophysical observations of the earth, atmosphere, and space. The ground processing system for the JPSS is the Common Ground System (CGS), and provides command, control, and communications (C3), data processing and product delivery. CGS processes the data from the JPSS satellites to provide environmental data products (including Sensor Data Records (SDRs) and Environmental Data Records (EDRs)) to the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility.

The first satellite in the JPSS constellation, known as the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite, was launched on 28 October 2011. CGS is currently processing and delivering SDRs and EDRs for S-NPP and will continue through the lifetime of the JPSS program. The EDRs for S-NPP are undergoing an extensive Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) campaign. Changes identified by the Cal/Val campaign are coming available for implementation into the operational system in support of both S-NPP and JPSS-1. Raytheon is supporting this effort through the development and use of tools, techniques, and processes designed to detect changes in product quality, identify root causes, and rapidly implement changes to the operational system to bring suspect products back into specification. This paper will describe the theoretical framework underpinning the analysis techniques, as well as the tools and processes used to support the cal/val effort.