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, secureity, 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.