In January 2008, Raytheon Company achieved a significant milestone for the NPOESS program by successfully completing the first phase of a major communications upgrade for Antarctica. The upgrade of the off-continent satellite communications link at McMurdo Station more than triples the bandwidth available for scientific research, weather prediction, and health and safety of those stationed at McMurdo. The project is part of the company's Command, Control, and Communications Segment (C3S) under development for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). This upgrade paves the way for a second major communications upgrade planned for 2012 in preparation for the use of McMurdo Station as one of the 15 NPOESS ground stations worldwide that will be receiving environmental data collected by the NPOESS satellites. NPOESS will monitor global environmental conditions and collect and disseminate data related to weather, atmosphere, oceans, land and near-space environment.