Raytheon officials say the company and NASA successfully completed testing data transfer and system compatibility for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project—all together known as NPP. The NPP is slated to fly early versions of key NPOESS sensors and test the program’s ground segments to reduce technological risk with the operational NPOESS, which is the joint DOD-civil next generation weather satellite that has been under fire for cost overruns and schedule delays. The 12-day testing process routed simulated data from a ground station in Norway to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
