Office of Satellite and Product Operations
Greg Marlow - Director
Scott Leonard - Deputy Director
The Office of Satellite Products and Operations (OSPO) collects, processes, and distributes
environmental satellite
data and products about Earth's weather, atmosphere, oceans, and land, plus the conditions in
space,
to data users,
24/7.
Fairbanks Command and Data Acquisition Station
Charles Beaudreault - Manager
The Fairbanks Command and Data Acquisition Station (FCDAS) schedules, acquires, maintains, and
distributes a
continuous flow of environmental satellite data worldwide. It is NOAA's primary facility to
execute commands for its
polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites, though it also commands, transmits, and
recovers data from
NOAA's geostationary satellites. Additionally, FCDAS can provide support for the legacy
(NOP
series) Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) West satellite. The station also provides support to
non-NOAA missions
for agencies such as NASA, the U.S. Space Force, the U.S. Geological Survey, and others outside
the
U.S. The station
remains in operation 24/7, including through inclement weather and emergencies such as natural
and
man-made
disasters. If the Wallops station needs support or can't operate, FCDAS would temporarily
take
over
Wallops' duties as able.
Mission Operations Division
Chris Sisko - Chief
Ellen Ramirez - Deputy Division Chief
The Mission Operations Division (MOD) operates a fleet of 17 environmental satellites that
includes
both NOAA-owned
satellites and NOAA partner mission satellites. The operation of the satellites is conducted on
a
24/7 basis and
consists of satellite controller support, engineering support, ground system support, as well as
support for ,
systems that ingest and disseminate satellite data products,both on-premise and in the cloud
infrastructure.. The
Division assists to maintain the preservation of a continuous data record via the Comprehensive
Large Array-data
Stewardship System.
Satellite Products and Services Division
Thomas Renkevens - Chief
Ian Zelo - Deputy Chief
The Satellite Products and Services Division (SPSD) takes data from NOAA polar-orbiting and
geostationary satellites
and satellites that other organizations operate to develop satellite data products and analyses
of
environmental
hazards. Then, SPSD distributes these satellite data products to NOAA programs and field
offices,
U.S. government
agencies, academia and commercial organizations for a range of environmental applications. SPSD
works with research
partners to develop and implement new and enhanced satellite data products. It also oversees
satellite broadcast
services including the Argos and GOES data collection services, GEONETCast Americas, GOES
Rebroadcast, High Rate
Data, High Rate Information Transmission / Emergency Managers Weather Information Network, and
Search and Rescue
Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system. SPSD interacts with people who use our environmental
satellite data
products and satellite broadcast services. It does this by emailing information to users and
answering their
inquiries and educating users at conferences and meetings about product and service updates.
Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Station
Toni Lord - Manager
Jesse Speidel - Deputy Manager
The Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Station (WCDAS) schedules, acquires, maintains, and
distributes a continuous
flow of environmental satellite data worldwide. It is NOAA’s primary facility to provide
satellite
downlink
capabilities for Geostationary satellites. Also, the station operates Low Earth Orbiting
satellites,
Deep Space,
supports the remote ground station operations for the US Space Force, and supports the Data
Collection Service. The
station provides backup continuity of operations for Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking
and
operates the
Radio Frequency Interference Monitoring System. In the future, the station will support the
Space
Weather Follow On
satellite and other United States Space Force missions. The station plans, designs, and
implements
system
modifications, tests, and evaluates new systems and techniques for satellite tracking and
communications. The WCDAS
is responsible for all aspects of the facility including its budget, personnel, satellite
operations, maintenance,
systems engineering, union negotiations, security, tours, public outreach, and procurement
activities. The station
remains in operation 24/7, including through inclement weather and emergencies such as natural
and
man-made
disasters.
Satellite Products Branch
Zhaohui Cheng - Chief
Jason Taylor - Deputy Chief
The Satellite Products Branch ensures the seamless transition of products and analysis
techniques
from research
to operations and provide full lifecycle stewardship of operational products from development to
product
retirement. The Branch works closely with the NESDIS Center for Satellite Applications and
Research
(STAR), the
Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA), and NWS’ National Centers for
Environmental
Prediction (NCEP) to ensure that advanced satellite data and analysis techniques are
incorporated
into
NOAA’s numerical modeling activities. The Branch continuously monitors the quality of
NESDIS
operational
product portfolio, evaluates system and product performance, and provides corrective maintenance
and
adaptive
software maintenance as needed. The Branch utilizes interactive processing technology to
integrate
multiple
satellite sensor data streams into new blended operationally supported products. The Branch
serves
as the NESDIS
focal point for the development of new major digital products, and for the development and
implementation of
interactive workstation technology, and image processing capabilities used for operational
applications of
environmental satellite data.
Satellite Analysis Branch
Josh Jankot - (Acting) Chief
Jerome Fisher - (Acting) Deputy Chief
The Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) mission is to analyze satellite imagery, integrated with
ancillary datasets,
to create briefings and products that enable its users to mitigate disasters and environmental
hazards including
tropical storms, heavy precipitation, fires and smoke, airborne volcanic ash and marine
pollution
(oil spills).
Users of SAB's 24 x 7 x 365 interpretive satellite analysis products include all NOAA Line
Offices,
federal,
state, local, and foreign government agencies, emergency responders and the public. Maintaining
the
quality and
user utility of these life-saving products requires integrating cutting edge science, an
increasingly broad
array of satellite capabilities and techniques, continually expanded data distribution means and
active
user-oriented outreach.
Direct Services Branch
Mark Turner - Chief
The Direct Services Branch manages the satellite transmission services the provide operational
data,
derived
products and support for the worldwide direct readout community who are given free, unrestricted
access to the
scientific data directly from the NOAA satellites. The Branch also administers the GOES Data
Collection (DCS),
the Argos Data Collection and Locations Systems used by researchers, governmental and
environmental
organizations worldwide and is the United States operator for the international Search and
Rescue
Satellite-Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system, utilizing NOAA satellites, dedicated to saving persons
in
distress on
land or water.