NASA can’t get it up – JPSS-1 Scrubbed for 3rd Time

VANDENBURG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif – The JPSS-1 satellite launch that had been rescheduled for 4:47 a.m. EST Wednesday morning has been scrubbed – again.

The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket loaded with NOAA’s JPSS-1 weather satellite was originally set to launch on November 10 but was cancelled due to a faulty battery. A second attempt to put the satellite into polar orbit was scrubbed Tuesday morning due to a first stage fault in the last moments of the countdown. Due to the extremely short launch window, that fault could not be cleared and the Delta rocket launch was moved to Wednesday. This morning’s launch was again scrubbed due to upper-level winds at the site and will be attempted again on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 4:47 a.m. EST.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellite will use cameras and sensors to give meteorologist more information that will improve 3-7-day weather forecasting.

Data from JPSS-1 will support a broad range of environmental monitoring applications including weather analysis and forecasting, climate research and prediction, global sea surface temperature measurements, atmospheric soundings of temperature and humidity, ocean dynamics research, volcanic eruption monitoring, forest fire detection, global vegetation analysis, search and rescue, and many other applications. The most important function of JPSS, however, is that it will increase the timeliness and accuracy of forecasts three to seven days in advance of a severe weather event. NOAA’s National Weather Service uses JPSS data as a critical input for numerical forecast models, providing the basis for these mid-range forecasts.

JPSS-1 one will circle the Earth 14 times a day in a polar orbit which means that the satellite will circle the planet from pole to pole at an altitude of 512 miles.

The mission is now rescheduled to launch at 1:47 a.m PST Thursday morning from Vandenburg Air Force Base.