The nation’s next-generation weather satellite — built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder — is poised to lift off early Friday from Vandenberg Air Force in California.
Known as NPP — NPOESS Preparatory Project — the satellite is the first in a proposed series of Earth-monitoring satellites that experts say will greatly improve global weather forecasts.
Information gathered will be used for short-term events such as fighting wildfires and directing air traffic around natural disasters and long- term ones such as measuring changes in climate.
Scott Tennant, Ball’s NPP program manager, said about 30 employees have been working this week on inspections and communication checks.
“We’re very excited,” Tennant said. “For me, I’ve worked on this for about four years, and Ball has for 10 years.”
At the peak, about 300 Ball employees worked on NPP and one of its five instruments.
The satellite is a collaboration among NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Defense and private contractors such as Ball and Raytheon.
About 400 employees of Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems in Aurora built the satellite’s ground system and data-processing system.
A Delta II rocket provided by United Launch Alliance of Centennial will carry NPP into an orbit about 500 miles high, where it will orbit Earth’s poles more than a dozen times a day.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
