On May 31, 2018, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a notice of availability of a system architecture report and requested comments. NOAA is planning for an operational environmental satellite system to come after its Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite System and its Joint Polar Satellite System beginning about 2028. NOAA views its future system as providing an opportunity to:
design a modern architecture by broadly examining instruments, services, platforms, and orbits, driven by user needs, new technology, and exploiting emerging space business models. The NSOSA study team developed and evaluated nearly 100 architecture alternatives, including partner and commercial contributions that are likely to become available.
Members of the public can view the NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture Study draft report, submit comments and ideas, review submissions from other parties, and respond. Go here and scroll down to click to the report. The link will take you to NOAA’s docket, which contains related documents and will show you where to file comments. If you do have ideas or concerns, this is a chance to get them in front of NOAA.
NOAA specifically asked for comment on the following areas:
Did NOAA consider a sufficiently broad range of alternatives?
Are the opportunities that the analysis identified as deserving of consideration consistent with your knowledge of the state of the space enterprise?
Are there outcomes or options that you recommend for further analysis?
What suggestions do you have on engagement with industry, including innovative capability development approaches, partnership opportunities, and business models that may inform NOAA’s path forward?
What suggestions do you have on engagement with the academic and research community and other stakeholders to ensure NOAA makes the best use of the outputs of this study?
Comments due: July 2, 2018