International Partnerships

The NPOESS program is built on the strong partnerships of our international partners. NPOESS embraces international collaboration and cooperation in the development and operation of this important contributor to Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). NPOESS is privileged to have strong partnerships across the globe. These partners include the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the Norwegian Space Centre (NSC), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). NPOESS data will be available world-wide.

GEOSS (Visit Site)

GEOSS is turning Earth into a new frontier, driving a deeper understanding of Earth’s complex systems in a way that will greatly improve our predictive capabilities and bring vital societal benefits to people around the globe.
GEOSS enables us to envision a world where more people will be fed, more resources will be protected, more diseases will be mitigated or even prevented, and more lives will be saved from environmental disasters.

EUMETSAT (Visit Site)

Per international agreement, EUMETSAT's MetOp Satellite will provide mid-morning orbital coverage to supplement NPOESS data.
The EUMETSAT Director General (or his designee) is an active participant in the NPOESS Senior Users Advisory Group (SUAG)
NPOESS contributes to the EUMETSAT-NOAA High Level Working Group meetings throughout the year
NPOESS and EUMETSAT are making plans to implement MetOp data recovery from Antarctica

NSC (Visit Site)

In 2003 NPOESS, NASA and the NSC provided fiber-optic connectivity to Svalbard Norway, significantly reducing communications costs and enhancing data program latency requirements
The NSC, through their contractor Kongsberg Spacetec, provide essential ground system services for NPP and NPOESS via the northernmost (78.5 degrees N) ground station in the world, known as SvalSat in Svalbard Norway

ISRO (Visit Site)

India will provide landing rights (site and spectrum) for the NPOESS SafetyNet TM location in Shadnagar, India under an umbrella Memorandum of Understanding signed between the US and India in January 2008, and an Implementing Agreement signed between NOAA and the Indian Space Research Organization signed in November 2006, and Service Level Agreement between the National Remote Sensing Agency and the IPO signed in April 2008

JAXA (Visit Site)

Senior level discussions on areas of cooperation between NPOESS, NOAA and JAXA's Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM)
Many areas of cooperation and collaboration have been mutually identified and plans are being made to establish a "road map" to go forward