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NPP Renamed in Honor of Satellite Pioneer

01.25.12 - NASA has renamed its newest Earth-observing satellite in honor of the late Verner E. Suomi, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin who is recognized widely as "the father of satellite meteorology." The announcement was made Jan. 24 at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society in New Orleans.

NASA launched the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project, or NPP, on Oct. 28, 2011, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. NPP was renamed Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership, or Suomi NPP. The satellite is the first designed to collect critical data to improve short-term weather forecasts and increase understanding of long-term climate change + More

Press Releases

01.19.2012 - NPP Resumes Mission Checkout Phase
12.16.2011 - First Global Image from VIIRS
11.22.2011 - NPP Satellite Acquires First VIIRS Image
11.16.2011 - NASA Invites Elementary Students to an Inside Look at NPP!
11.10.2011 - NPP Satellite Acquires First ATMS Measurements
10.20.2011 - NASA Invites Twitter Followers to Launch of NPP
10.20.2011 - Significant Antarctic Ozone Hole Remains
10.20.2011 - Ozone Depletion a Bigger Deal Down Under
10.19.2011 - A Look Back at a Decade of Fires
10.12.2011 - NASA Readies NPP Satellite for Launch
10.02.2011 - Study of Unprecedented Arctic Ozone Loss
09.06.2011 - NPP Satellite Prevents Gap in Critical Climate Data
09.06.2011 - CERES Continues Legacy of Cloud Study on NPP

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Mission Overview

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership collects and distributes remotely-sensed land, ocean, and atmospheric data to the meteorological and global climate change communities as the responsibility for these measurements transitions from existing Earth-observing missions such as Aqua, Terra and Aura, to the NPOESS. It will provide atmospheric and sea surface temperatures, humidity sounding, land and ocean biological productivity, and cloud and aerosol properties.

Mission Posters
+ Learn about the mission science through this posters series

NPP Satellite with Earth

2012 'Blue Marble'

A 'Blue Marble' image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012. + go to feature

+ Go to full Science Gallery






Suomi NPP is NASA's next Earth-observing research satellite. It is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth.




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