Northrop Grumman Has Multi-Mission System Test Success

NPOESS is the nation’s nextgen, low-Earth orbiting, and remote sensing system. NPOESS will provide environmental data to military and civilian users. Prime contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation [NYSE:NOC] leads the overall systems engineering and systems integration effort under contract to the IPO, which consists of the Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Defense and NASA. Teammate Raytheon is responsible for the command, control and communications segment; interface data processing segment; and providing systems engineering support. The first NPOESS satellite is scheduled to launch in 2013.




The company recently completed the System Acceptance Test (SAT) of a Common Command and Telemetry System (CCTS). This system could, potentially, reduce costs between two programs—James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). Raytheon’s ECLIPSE is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) command and telemetry product configured to support both satellite flight operations and integration & test (I&T) on the James Webb Space Telescope and NPOESS. Adding the I&T requirements to a traditional flight operations system is an innovative approach, increasing SAT requirements to accommodate different satellite communication protocols and user needs. Software requirements were verified on spacecraft and ground equipment simulators at Northrop Grumman over a four-week period that ended in August. The test milestone represents the culmination of a four-year Raytheon development effort to bring Northrop Grumman its first true multi-mission command and telemetry system. The test proves the joint team’s ability to engineer a system while balancing combined NPOESS and JWST requirements and schedules.





The CCTS ECLIPSE(r) has been delivered to science instrument providers at the Goddard Space Flight Center who will use it to develop, test, and integrate their instruments for the James Webb Space Telescope. The joint development team includes Northrop Grumman’s JWST and NPOESS teams, program customers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the NPOESS Integrated Program Office (IPO) and Raytheon Mission Command and Control Systems. The James Webb Space Telescope, designed to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope, will be NASA’s premier space observatory after its launch in 2013—Redondo Beach, California