The OSTM/Jason-2 Transition to the NOAA Jason Ground System (NJGS): A Case Study in Operational Continuity

The Ocean Surface Topography Mission on the Jason-2 satellite (OSTM/Jason-2) is an international mission jointly operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), France's Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).  OSTM/Jason-2 provides high-precision radar altimetry to support a multi-decade record of global ocean surface topography measurement that began with the launch of the TOPEX/Poseidon mission in 1992.

Having determined that the Jason-2 Ground System (J2GS) was nearing obsolescence, NOAA commissioned a transition of OSTM/Jason-2 mission operations to the new NOAA Jason Ground System (NJGS), a next-generation multi-partner ground segment designed to be compatible with the Jason-2 and follow-on Jason-3 satellites.  The transition was successfully executed in September 2015, with no adverse effects on data continuity or availability.

This paper presents the OSTM/Jason-2 ground segment transition as a case study in maintaining data and operational continuity across multiple generations of spacecraft and ground segments.  The paper discusses the methodologies used by NOAA and the OSTM/Jason-2 mission partners to maintain data continuity, ensure uninterrupted mission operations and science data availability, and minimize transition risk, and considers the applicability of lessons learned from the OSTM/Jason-2 transition to future transition efforts for the next generation of NOAA and international environmental missions, such as the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).