The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a U.S. government agency focused on science-based services and environmental intelligence. Within the space industry, NOAA plays a vital role in monitoring and forecasting space weather through its Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). NOAA operates a network of satellites, including the GOES and DSCOVR, to track solar activity and its potential impacts on Earth, providing alerts and warnings to various sectors like satellite operations, power grids, and communication systems. NOAA collaborates with NASA and commercial partners on space weather programs like the Space Weather Next program, ensuring continuous space-based observations.
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NOAA expects to need new geostationary observation tools around 2030 and is focusing largely on weather imagery while also seeking space weather data.
NOAA plans to release a separate Broad Agency Announcement focused on geostationary orbit.
The BAAs will request information on technology and cost related to instruments and missions identified as promising in the NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture study completed in 2017.
The NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture study completed in 2017 is an extensive quantitative analysis aimed at creating a capable, affordable, and resilient space-based architecture.
NOAA considers GOES-17 to provide faster, more accurate, and more detailed observations than previous generations of geostationary orbit weather satellites.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used the Hosted Payload Solutions contract vehicle to award General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems a $37,900,000 contract to install the Argos Advanced Data Collection System on an Orbital Test Bed satellite.
PlanetiQ received a $3,500,000 contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as part of a commercial weather data pilot program.
The Trump administration proposed terminating EPIC operations by including no funding for EPIC in NASA’s fiscal year 2018 and 2019 budget requests, while those proposals did not affect the overall DSCOVR mission funded by NOAA.
The STP-2 payload includes six COSMIC-2 satellites developed by NOAA and Taiwan’s National Space Organization to collect GPS radio occultation data for weather forecasting.
The Commerce Department’s fiscal year 2020 budget request sought to combine the Office of Space Commerce and the Office of Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs and move them from NOAA to the office of the Secretary of Commerce as part of an overall $10,000,000 request for the office.
The House bill retained the Office of Space Commerce and the Office of Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs as separate entities within NOAA and funded each office at $1,800,000.
NOAA plans to draw 5,000 daily radio occultation profiles from the COSMIC-2 mission.
NOAA is preparing to add radio occultation soundings from Spain’s PAZ satellite, which launched in 2018, to operational forecasts.
NOAA is preparing to add radio occultation soundings from Korea’s Kompsat-5 mission, which launched in 2013, to operational forecasts.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) provides nighttime imagery with a resolution of about 740 m per pixel and global nighttime coverage.
The plasma analyzer instrument funded by the U.K. Space Agency will be flown on a space weather mission being developed by ESA in coordination with a separate spacecraft that NOAA will develop.
NOAA requested $5,000,000 in 2020 to begin purchasing commercial radio occultation data for numerical weather forecasting.
NOAA seeks $10,000,000 in 2020 to explore opportunities to send hosted payloads on commercial satellites in geostationary and tundra orbits.
NOAA requested $10,000,000 in its 2020 budget for industry studies, analyses, and possible flight demonstrations of hosted payloads.
NOAA requested nearly $2,300,000 in its 2020 budget to work with NASA’s Earth Science and Heliophysics Divisions, other government agencies, and the commercial sector to leverage emerging technologies.