NPOESS Direct Readout Mission

As part of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), the Direct Readout Laboratory (DRL) of NASA/GSFC Code 935, is developing the prototype NPP In-Situ Ground System (NISGS). The NISGS supports earth remote sensing, and its functions bridge from all EOS satellites to planning for future NASA and interagency launches. The NISGS solution enables the end user to acquire and process NPP and predecessor instrument data, and provide a means to make these technologies and data products available to the Direct Broadcast Community. NASA is developing the NISGS to provide a Direct Broadcast (DB) solution that incorporates instruments from the Earth Observing System (EOS), Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES), and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). It provides the foundation for, and path to, the future NPOESS satellites. The NISGS solution will be available at no cost to the DB community through a software public-release program. The NPOESS Field Terminal Segment (FTS) is a software-only product. Field terminal hardware will be purchased, owned, operated, and maintained by Department Of Commerce, Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine, national and worldwide civil organizations. The FTS will allow users to receive and process the NPOESS continuous broadcast of sensed data. The High Rate Data (HRD) will be transmitted at X-band (7834 MHz) with a data rate of 20 Mbps. The Low Rate Data (LRD) will be transmitted at L-band (1707 MHz) with a data rate of 3.88 Mbps. All data are packetized using Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) protocols.