NOAA’s joint polar satellite system and the near Earth observation network

The NOAA-21 satellite successfully completed its post-launch checkout, verification, and validation of all the sensor data and key performance parameters. It is now the primary satellite in NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System with redundant back up provided by NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) and NOAA-20 satellites. The performance of all NOAA-21 data meets specifications and are within family compared to SNPP and NOAA-20. The global data provided by the mission is critical for numerical weather prediction models for making timely and accurate weather forecasts, as well as for detecting and monitoring environmental events such as floods, fires, and changes in atmospheric chemistry such as ozone concentration.