The Raytheon Company developed Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Common Ground System achieved a major milestone on the road to NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) launch with the successful completion of the NPP Compatibility Test 4 this August. This is the last major comprehensive test prior to the scheduled October launch.

The compatibility test consisted of 288 hours of continuous mission-like operations exercising the flow of mission data from Svalbard, Norway, through the Raytheon-developed Command, Control & Communications Segment and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Air Force Weather Agency data processing segments, called IDPSs. In addition, data records were sent to the payload-support toolkit and to NOAA’s Environmental Satellite Data & Information Service, as well as to NASA and Air Force Weather Agency customer systems in Suitland, Md.; Greenbelt, Md.; Asheville, N.C.; and Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Neb.