Successful Installation of GRB and Himawari 8 Ground Stations at National and International Weather Offices

Late in 2014, the National Weather Service (NWS) contracted with industry to design, develop, and deploy direct receive systems for the new generation of geostationary weather satellites, Himawari-8 and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R). These systems will provide the primary access to satellite weather data for eight NWS locations, including five National Centers, the Pacific Region Office in Hawaii, and the Weather Forecast Offices in Guam and Alaska.  With Himawari’s transition to operations in 2015 and the GOES-R Satellite launch scheduled for 2016, the U.S. government and selected industry partner, Harris Corporation, had between 13 and 18 months to ensure the operational readiness of 26 enterprise-class systems. This poster depicts the successes, setbacks, and lessons learned during the accomplishment of these installations by the transition-to-operations dates for each satellite.