Weather Forecasting for JPSS-2 Launch

In the days leading up to a launch at Vandenberg Space Force Base, most of the attention is focused on preparing the rocket and payload for their trip to space. In this case, that’s NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) satellite, and its secondary payload, LOFTID. NASA and its commercial partners have the task of designing, building, and launching the satellite.

The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the nation’s advanced series of polar-orbiting environmental satellites. Considered the backbone of the global observing system, JPSS satellites circle Earth from pole to pole and cross the equator 14 times daily—providing full global coverage twice a day.
But there’s another operation happening at the base that makes these launches possible. About 1.5 miles north of the Visitor’s Center is the Weather Operations Center, or “The Weather Shop,” where a 15-member team monitors the weather around the clock. And in a meeting of worlds, satellites from the JPSS series provide an important source of the data that feeds their weather forecast.


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Music credits: “Paradigm” by Laurent Dury [SACEM], Koka Media [UPM France]
“Getting the Day Started” by Matthew Fletcher [ASCAP] & Patrick James McArthur [ASCAP}, NSLE Music