The Northrop Grumman-led engineering team building the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS) spacecraft continues to take delivery of key hardware, making significant progress on satellite fabrication several months ahead of schedule.

The first flight shipset of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers has been delivered from General Dynamics, Scottsdale, Ariz. Flight hardware assemblies key to the operation of the satellite's communications links were delivered from Tesat-Spacecom, Backnang, Germany.

Essential propulsion hardware is slated to be delivered later this year. It includes fill and drain valves from VACCO Industries, El Monte, Calif. and pressure transducers from Tavis Corp., Mariposa, Calif.

"Continued, steady progress of flight hardware deliveries speaks volumes about the work the entire government-industry team has accomplished in recent months," said Linnie Haynesworth, vice president and DWSS program director for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

"By keeping our supply base intact, we are advancing the program and delivering the best value."

Thermal testing is currently underway for flight Single Board Computers for the DWSS Command and Data Handling (C and DH) subsystem. Testing on 14 flight computers is expected to be completed this fall.

The C and DH subsystem consists of spacecraft control processors, which control the spacecraft; plus payload support processors and data server units, which store and route the science data.

Timely completion of DWSS is essential to maintain continuity with the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), which has been delivering weather data for military use since the mid-1960s.

DWSS will provide reliable, high-fidelity, near-real-time information about weather and environmental conditions around the world to inform aviation, naval, and coastal marine operations and land assets. DWSS will also provide the capability to monitor space environmental conditions.