The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has deployed a cloud-based ground system-as-a-service, or GSaaS, capability to operate three of its weather and climate prediction satellites.
The GSaaS platform, which was developed by Parsons and its subcontractors in 2022, will bridge data from the legacy Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellites, a.k.a. POES, to the next-generation Joint Polar Satellite Series until 2025, the agency said Wednesday.
The cloud-based system is part of the POES Extended Life contract. It uses the Microsoft Azure application for remote operations, while Arctic Slope Technical Services provides mission architecture support and Kongsberg Satellite Services manages ground antenna services.
Parsons on Tuesday fully assumed operations of the POES satellite trio, delivering their data to the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service.
POES Extended Life will “lay the groundwork for the future of Low Earth Orbit missions” such as said the Near Earth Orbit Network, Quicksounder and Series 1 missions,” said Tim Walsh, director of NOAA’s Office of Low Earth Orbit Observations.