The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has rescheduled the launch of the first polar-orbiting weather satellite to March 2017 instead of January, Space News reported Friday.
Jeff Foust writes the two-month delay is due to issues detected in the Joint Polar Satellite System 1 spacecraft and its ground systems.
“Based on recent tests of the flight and ground systems and an assessment of the remaining work to bring the system to flight readiness, NOAA has determined it cannot meet the Jan. 20, 2017, launch date for JPSS-1 with reasonable confidence,” NOAA spokesperson John Leslie told Space News.
JPSS-1 will take off onboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, according to the report.
Jackie Berger, a spokesperson for JPSS-1 prime contractor Ball Aerospace, said the company continues to work with NOAA to meet the new launch date.
Related Articles
President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War as a secondary title. The department said Friday the EO authorizes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, DOD and the deparment’s subordinate officials to use secondary titles, such as “Secretary of War,” “Department of War” and “Deputy Secretary of War,” in official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts and non-statutory documents within the executive branch. According to a White House fact sheet, the order requires all executive departments and agencies to recognize the secondary titles in internal and external communications and directs Hegseth to
President Donald Trump has nominated Army Lt. Gen. Michele Bredenkamp, director’s adviser for military affairs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as the next director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, a 2025 Wash100 awardee, announced Bredenkamp’s nomination in a news release published Friday on the Department of War’s website. Gain insights into the opportunities and challenges facing the intelligence community at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Intel Summit on Oct. 2. Book your spot now for this key GovCon industry event! Who Is Lt. Gen. Michele Bredenkamp? In January 2024, the Senate
The Office of Personnel Management has issued a final rule replacing the longstanding “rule of three” with the “rule of many” to modernize federal hiring. OPM, which announced the reform on Friday, said the rule applies to competitive and excepted service appointments to ensure agencies hire based on practical skill and merit, as measured by skills-based assessments. What Is OPM’s Rule of Many? The rule allows agencies to select from a broader pool of top-ranked candidates by certifying a “sufficient number” of applicants using one of four methods: a cut-off score based on job analysis data, a cut-off score based