Raytheon announced Sept. 7 that the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) command, control and communications segment acceptance testing has been completed two months early.

The completion clears the way for the NPP, a jointly managed mission by the NPOESS IPO and NASA, to fly early versions of key sensors and test the ground segments to reduce risks for the operational NPOESS, a satellite system to be used in monitoring global environmental conditions and collect and disseminate data related to weather, atmosphere, oceans, land and near-space environment.

NPOESS will combine existing polar-orbiting satellite systems under a single national program.