The history of the development of requirements for space environmental data from polar-orbiting satellites beginning with the convergence of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES) programs will be discussed. Development of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) space environmental requirements began in the mid 1990's. As the NPOESS program was developed to meet these requirements, a robust set of space environmental sensors was planned. However, due to cost concerns and negotiations with the NPOESS User Community, certain capabilities were dropped to sustain others. In 2006, NPOESS developmental challenges drove cost increases triggering a Congressionally mandated review of the program. The review resulted in a Certified NPOESS program from which most of the space environmental sensing capabilities were removed. In response, two separate but coordinated initiatives by Air Force Space Command and the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology are underway to recover some of the NPOESS space environmental sensing capability.