Evolution of the JPSS Ground Project Calibration and Validation System

The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) next-generation operational Earth observation Program that acquires and distributes global environmental data from multiple polar-orbiting satellites. The JPSS Program plays a critical role to NOAA’s mission to understand and predict changes in weather, climate, oceans, and coasts environments, which supports the nation’s economy and protects lives and property. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is acquiring and implementing the JPSS, comprised of flight and ground systems on behalf of NOAA. The JPSS satellites are planned to fly in afternoon orbit and will provide operational continuity of satellite-based observations and products for NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite.

Government Resource for Algorithm Verification, Independent Test, and Evaluation (GRAVITE) system is a NOAA system developed and deployed by JPSS Ground Project to support Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val), Algorithm Integration, Investigation, and Tuning, and Data Quality Monitoring. It is a mature, deployed system that supports SNPP mission and has been in operations since SNPP launch. This paper discusses the major re-architecture for Block 2.0 that incorporates SNPP lessons learned, architecture of the system, and demonstrates how GRAVITE has evolved as a system with increased performance. It is a robust, reliable, maintainable, scalable, and secure system that supports development, test, and production strings, replaces proprietary and custom software, uses open source software, and is compliant with NASA and NOAA standards. "[Pending NASA Goddard Applied Engineering & Technology Directorate (AETD) Approval]"