The NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture study

NOAA is beginning a study, the NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture (NSOSA) study, to plan for the future operational environmental satellite system that will follow GOES and JPSS, beginning about 2030. This is an opportunity to design a modern architecture with no preconceived notions regarding instruments, platforms, orbits, etc., but driven by user needs. The NSOSA study team will develop and evaluate architecture alternatives, to include partner and commercial alternatives that are likely to become available. The objectives will include both functional needs and strategic characteristics (e.g., resiliency, flexibility, responsiveness, sustainability). The study will be informed by the Space Platform Requirements Working Group (SPRWG), commissioned by NESDIS. The SPRWG is charged to assess new or existing user needs and to provide relative impacts from different candidate observing systems in the future architecture. SPRWG results will serve as input to the process for new foundational (Level 0 and Level 1) requirements for the next generation of NOAA satellites that follow the GOES-R, JPSS, DSCOVR, Jason-3, and COSMIC-2 missions.