Successes and Lessons Learned during Development of NOAA's Next Generation GOES-R Ground System

The GOES-R Ground System has been completed and is ready to receive data. Planning, requirements, studies, testing, and implementation required hard work and diligent efforts of many people from multiple companies and government organizations working as a team. This retrospective looks back over the last six years and highlights the methodologies making the Ground Segment the successful system that it is today. It will be from the point of view of the Harris Corporation, the Ground Segment prime contractor. The most important keys to success as well as the some pitfalls to success are discussed.