Technicians secure NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) satellite onto an Aronson Table inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Aug. 22, 2022. In the background are the United Launch Alliance Atlas V payload fairings that will encase the satellite and protect it during launch. JPSS-2 is the third satellite in the Joint Polar Satellite System series. It is scheduled to lift off from VSFB on Nov. 1 from Space Launch Complex-3. JPSS-2, which will be renamed NOAA-21 after
Technicians secure NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) satellite onto an Aronson Table inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Aug. 22, 2022. In the background are the United Launch Alliance Atlas V payload fairings that will encase the satellite and protect it during launch. JPSS-2 is the third satellite in the Joint Polar Satellite System series. It is scheduled to lift off from VSFB on Nov. 1 from Space Launch Complex-3. JPSS-2, which will be renamed NOAA-21 after reaching orbit, will join a constellation of JPSS satellites that orbit from the North to the South pole, circling Earth 14 times a day and providing a full view of the entire globe twice daily. The NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite, and NOAA-20, previously known as JPSS-1, are both already in orbit. Each satellite carries at least four advanced instruments to measure weather and climate conditions on Earth. A secondary payload on the mission is the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID), and is dedicated to the memory of Bernard Kutter. LOFTID will demonstrate inflatable heat shield technology that could enable a variety of proposed NASA missions to destinations such as Mars, Venus, and Titan, as well as returning heavier payloads from low-Earth orbit.
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Keywords: -earth, alliance, atlas, base, decelerator, flight, force, inflatable, joint, jpss-2, launch, loftid, noaa, orbit, polar, program, satellite, services, space, system-2, test, united, vandenberg
