![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/D41.jpg\" "\\"D4\\"")
The mission will provide a bridge between NASA\u2019s Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites and the forthcoming series of JPSS satellites, as NPP will test key technologies and instruments for the JPSS missions.<\/p>\nThe United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II launch with the NPP (NPOESS Preparatory Project) satellite has passed through its Flight Readiness Review (FRR) on Friday. The launch from SLC-2W at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California has been set for a launch window which opens at 9:48am GMT on October 28.<\/p>\n
NPP Mission:<\/p>\n
NPP \u2013 the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project \u2013 is the first of a new generation of satellites, carrying the first of the new sensors developed for this satellite fleet, now known as the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) to be launched in 2016.<\/p>\n
The mission will provide a bridge between NASA\u2019s Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites and the forthcoming series of JPSS satellites, as NPP will test key technologies and instruments for the JPSS missions.<\/p>\n
\u201cNPP\u2019s observations of a wide range of interconnected Earth properties and processes will give us the big picture of how our planet changes,\u201d said Jim Gleason, NPP project scientist at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will help us improve our computer models that predict future environmental conditions. Better predictions will let us make better decisions, whether it is as simple as taking an umbrella to work today or as complex as responding to a changing climate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NPP spacecraft is a member of the Ball Configurable Platform (BCP) family of spacecraft designed for cost-effective, remote sensing applications. Its proven design accommodates a wide range of payloads, including optical applications with sub-meter resolutions and synthetic aperture radar.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/D31.jpg\" "\\"D3\\"")
The spacecraft bus is the eighth of 11 spacecraft built by Ball Aerospace on the same BCP 2000 core architecture. The BCP 2000 was designed to accommodate a wide variety of Earth-observing payloads that require precision pointing control, flexible high-data throughput and downlinks, and controlled re-entry.<\/p>\n
Aerospace industry analysis (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n The NPP spacecraft incorporates both MIL-STD-1553 and IEEE 1394 (FireWire) data networks to support the payload suite. The spacecraft has a 7-year design life, with a five-year mission life.<\/p>\n The five instruments manifested for flight on the NPP spacecraft trace their heritage to instruments on NASA\u2019s Terra, Aqua and Aura missions, on NOAA\u2019s Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) spacecraft, and on DOD\u2019s Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP).<\/p>\n Delta II Preparations:<\/p>\n The integration flow at VAFB has proceeded without any major issues, with only slight interruption, such as the 24 hour delay to the NPP transport and mate to the Delta II due to unacceptable winds in the Californian launch site. This process was completed on October 13.<\/p>\n \u201cThe SC and can were under the hook by 05:30, (prior to) waiting for ground winds to subside. The can was hoisted at 09:45, and mate was complete by 11:45. There was a ~25 minute interruption in activity due to a pad temperature sensor triggering a false alarm which forced personnel to evacuate the pad,\u201d added L2 notes for October 13\u2019s flow.<\/p>\n Engineers then worked on connecting the GN2 purge to the spacecraft, along with setting up access platforms. Once complete, the spacecraft was then put on air conditioning, while the team worked on the umbilical connections, performed basic tests and \u201cconfigure for launch\u201d testing \u2013 along with charging of the flight battery.<\/p>\n \u201cOrdnance installation and connections, including stage sep ordnance electrical connections, GEM ordnance electrical connections, and SC sep ordnance electrical connections are complete,\u201d added the flow notes.<\/p>\n It was during this point of the flow when a \u201cmaterial review\u201d resulted in a one day slip to the launch date.<\/p>\n \u201cThe postponement for at least 24 hours will allow time to complete the necessary engineering review before the payload fairing is installed around the spacecraft,\u201d noted NASA in an update.<\/p>\n With the review passed to the satisfaction of the mission\u2019s stakeholders, Friday\u2019s FRR passed the launch vehicle and spacecraft for launch next Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe timing of the NPP launch could hardly be more appropriate,\u201d noted Louis W. Uccellini, director of NOAA\u2019s National Centers for Environmental Prediction in Camp Springs, Md. \u201cWith the many billion dollar weather disasters in 2011, NPP data is critical for accurate weather forecasts into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Upcoming milestones include the Launch Management Coordination Meeting and Mission Dress Rehearsal \u2013 set to take place over the weekend. This will be followed by Second Stage Oxidizer Load and Second Stage Fuel Load early on the launch vehicle \u2013 flying in the 7920-10 configuration \u2013 next week.<\/p>\n (Images: NASA) (As the shuttle fleet retire, NSF and L2 are providing full transition level coverage, available no where else on the internet, from Orion and SLS to ISS and COTS\/CRS\/CCDEV, to European and Russian vehicles.)<\/p>\n (Click here: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/l2\/ \u2013 to view how you can access L2)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II launch with the NPP (NPOESS Preparatory Project) satellite has passed through its Flight Readiness Review (FRR) on Friday. The launch from SLC-2W at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California has been set for a launch window which opens at 9:48am GMT on October 28. NPP Mission: NPP […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8975,363],"class_list":["post-40297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-delta-ii","tag-ula"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}See Also<\/h4>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/D21.jpg\" "\\"D2\\"")
Technicians then performed a walkdown of the vehicle, ahead of closeouts on the spacecraft, which included the installation of the Payload Fairing (PLF) by ULA engineers.<\/p>\n