The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Interface Data Processing Segment (IDPS)

NPOESS, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, represents the U.S., next generation, polar-orbiting, Low-Earth-Orbit [LEO] satellite constellation and end-to-end system for environmental remote sensing. The NPOESS program is comprised of the spacecraft, instruments and sensors on the spacecraft, the command, control and communications infrastructure, data processing software and hardware, and launch support capabilities. The NPOESS program also includes the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP), a risk reduction mission managed jointly by the NPOESS Integrated Program Office (IPO) and NASA. NPP provides an opportunity to demonstrate and validate new sensors, algorithms, and operational processing capabilities, and to test many components of the system prior to the first NPOESS flight. NPP also provides continuity between NASA's current Earth Observing System (EOS) and NPOESS for select remotely sensed data that support global climate studies and research. The NPOESS Ground System will provide data to the DoD and DOC weather Centrals (the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC), the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)) in unprecedented latency. All Interface Data Processing Segment (IDPS) installations consist of the hardware and software necessary to receive and process raw satellite data into Environmental Data Records (EDRs). An architecture with an IDPS at each of the four Centrals, each capable of generating all the products, was derived after studying the communications cost to transmit the products from a centralized location. Additionally, the data products will be provided to NOAA's Comprehensive Large-Array data Stewardship System (CLASS) for distribution to the broader scientific user community.