The presentation will discuss the meteorological mission requirements that will be met by the NPOESS program. Brief historical perspectives of the evolution of operational uses of polar-orbiting satellites will be presented. The heritage sensors (both operational and research sensors) and their use in meteorological missions will be described in conjunction with the transition to the new NPOESS capability. The operational considerations of the significantly reduced latency will be described. The implications of the planned capabilities of the NPOESS data stream will be described.