Naomi Cooper
Raytheon, a subsidiary of RTX, has concluded the thermal vacuum testing of the final Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite instrument that will be used on the Joint Polar Satellite System of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The company said Monday the fourth VIIRS instrument has proceeded to environmental testing after undergoing thermal vacuum tests in late 2023 and ahead of its integration into the JPSS environmental satellite system this year.
The VIIRS sensors are designed to observe and collect visible and infrared images and observations of the Earth’s land, oceans and atmosphere.
“The recent thermal vacuum testing on J4 was the most successful and efficient cycle in the program’s history, demonstrating the team’s experience and the collaboration between NASA and Raytheon that allowed for seamless test execution,” said Sandy Brown, president of space systems at Raytheon.
The JPSS works to provide global observations to inform environment data products such as fire and air quality monitoring, agriculture monitoring, flood and sea ice mapping and carbon modeling.
