(ORDO NEWS) — Preparations are underway for the launch of the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) satellite of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
On behalf of NOAA, NASA designs and builds instruments, spacecraft and ground systems, and launches satellites operated by NOAA.
On board JPSS-2 are four state-of-the-art instruments that will measure the weather and study climatic conditions on Earth.
The launch is scheduled for November 1 from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Base. The satellite will be launched on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 401 rocket.
NASA’s Inflatable Moderator Flight Test in Low Earth Orbit (LOFTID) program will be launched as a secondary payload for JPSS-2. LOFTID will demonstrate the technology of an inflatable heat shield to enter the atmosphere.
This technology could enable a range of missions to objects such as Mars, Venus and Titan, as well as the return of heavier payloads from low Earth orbit.
JPSS-2 is the third satellite in the Joint Polar Satellite Systems series. JPSS-2, which will be renamed NOAA-21 after orbit, will join the JPSS constellation of satellites that orbit the North Pole to the South Pole, orbiting the Earth 14 times a day and providing a complete view of the entire globe twice a day.
The NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) and NOAA-20, formerly known as JPSS-1, satellites are already in orbit.
NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manages launch services. A live coverage of the launch will be broadcast on NASA television, on the app and on the agency’s website.
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