The Future of NOAA Satellites: The NOAA Observing System Architecture Study (Invited Presentation)

NOAA is conducting a study to plan for the operational environmental satellite systems that will follow GOES, JPSS, and our partnership-based systems (e.g., DSCOVR, Jason-3, and COSMIC-2) beginning in approximately 2030. This is an opportunity to design an agile architecture, considering a full range of options regarding instruments, platforms, and orbits. The goal is to achieve a more flexible, responsive and sustainable architecture that also makes effective use of partner and commercial assets.

Requirements planning is a critical first step in analyzing architecture options. To ensure a full and thorough discussion of requirements, NESDIS commissioned a Space Platforms Requirements Working Group (SPRWG) to assess new and existing user needs and to provide relative priorities to frame the future architecture. Following the study, these SPRWG assessments will also be an essential input to the process for new foundational (Level 0 and Level 1) requirements for the next generation of NOAA satellites.

We will present the latest status and interim results of the architecture study, including an initial discussion of potential architectures for the next generation of operational NOAA satellites and how they fit into the global framework of earth observing missions.