Ball Aerospace has begun environmental testing on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1) satellite.
JPSS-1 will represent significant technological and scientific advancements in severe weather prediction and environmental monitoring and will further weather, climate, environmental and oceanographic science.
The satellite is scheduled to launch in early 2017 and will provide global environmental data in low Earth polar orbit to advance severe weather prediction.
Ball Aerospace designed and built the JPSS-1 spacecraft, the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite-Nadir instrument, integrated all the instruments and performed satellite-level testing and launch support, under a contract to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, USA.
Environmental testing of the spacecraft and integrated instruments subjects the system to the simulated environments of launch and space to help certify mission readiness. The testing is underway in Ball’s Fisher Complex, in Boulder, Colorado, USA, in the same facility where the spacecraft was built. Following acoustic, vibration and electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing, the satellite will undergo thermal vacuum testing from July through early autumn. The thermal vacuum testing will expose the satellite and its five instruments to the extreme temperatures experienced in space. A launch is planned for early 2017.
April 29, 2016
