The amazing spacecraft has just finished being commissioned

Mar 8, 2012 08:09 GMT  ·  By

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite (NPP) has now entered active service, after spending the past few weeks undergoing various tests in space. The commissioning phase is now complete, and the most advanced, inter-agency spacecraft built thus far is ready for use.

“By providing cutting-edge measurements of important Earth system processes, the Suomi NPP mission will increase researchers' knowledge of our home planet, and provide direct societal benefit through more accurate predictions,” NASA Earth Science Division director Michael Freilich says.

The primary role of the spacecraft will be to improve the American weather forecasting system, so that researchers gain access to more relevant data nearly in real-time. The spacecraft is operated by NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

It launched back in October 2011, and has been undergoing the standard testing and commissioning phases ever since. It was only now that experts finally gave the go-ahead for it to enter active service.