NASA has awarded SpaceX the right to provide launch services for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) 4 mission. This mission is the next satellite in the program, which began with the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership.
The JPSS constellation of satellites collects global multi-spectral radiometry and other specialized meteorologic, oceanographic, and solar-geophysical data via remote sensing of land, sea, and atmospheric properties. These data support NOAA’s mission to provide ongoing observation of Earth’s environment to understand and predict changes in weather, climate, oceans, and coasts. NASA uses the instruments aboard the JPSS satellites to conduct Earth science research
This is a firm fixed price contract with a value of approximately USD112.7 million, which includes launch services and other mission-related costs.
NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for managing the launch services. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the JPSS Flight Projects Office, which oversees the acquisition of the JPSS series instruments and spacecraft. A collaborative NOAA and NASA team manages the JPSS Program.
The JPSS-4 mission currently is targeted to launch in 2027, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
