Ball Aerospace has delivered the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) satellite to its launch site at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, US.

The satellite is set to be launched on board a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket on 10 November.

The delivery follows a pre-ship review with Nasa, which is responsible for acquisition of the flight systems and other services of the satellite at Ball’s manufacturing facility in Boulder, Colorado, US.

Designed and built by Ball, the JPSS-1 is equipped with Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS), and Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES).

In addition to Ball, Harris, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman were involved in the development of the satellite instruments.

“This advanced weather satellite will play a significant role in providing actionable environmental intelligence to decisionmakers in government and business, and to the general public.”

Ball Aerospace president Rob Strain said: “This advanced weather satellite will play a significant role in providing actionable environmental intelligence to decisionmakers in government and business, and to the general public.”

Once launched, the JPSS-1 will join the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite, which has been functioning as NOAA’s primary operational satellite for global weather observations since May 2014.

The JPSS-1 satellite is designed to circle the Earth 14 times a day and will provide global observations for US weather and environmental forecasts.

It will also be a part of NOAA's JPSS series of polar-orbiting weather satellites, which are set to help the organisation’s operational environmental forecasting system for the next two decades.


Image: NOAA's JPSS-1 satellite. Photo: courtesy of Ball Corporation.