[Satellite TODAY 03-05-13] The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite, a partnership between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was transitioned to NOAA for operational organization control.
 

    Suomi NPP continues the observations of Earth from space that were pioneered by NASA’s Earth Observing System. The satellite provides important data for understanding long-term climate change, and for increasing our ability to improve weather forecasts in the short term. 

    
    NASA launched Suomi NPP in 2011 and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt., Md., has been helping maintain the instruments in addition to providing the ground system, with NOAA institutional organizations providing operational mission support. The NOAA operations group now assumes responsibility for Suomi NPP. 

    The Suomi NPP mission is a bridge between NASA’s Earth-observing missions and NOAA’s next-generation JPSS. Suomi NPP carries new instruments for Earth observation that JPSS will use operationally. The first satellite in the JPSS series, JPSS-1, is targeted for launch in early 2017.