The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS): Program Can Increase the Likelihood of Mission Success by Further Applying NASA Processes to Its Spacecraft Development Efforts

For our audit of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program, our objective was to assess the cost, schedule, and technical performance of the Program’s spacecraft acquisition and development efforts. Specifically, we sought to (1) determine the extent to which cost and schedule changed from the original Program baselines, and (2) identify changes and challenges to the Program’s technical baseline. We found that, from March 2015 to November 2019, the cost of the JPSS-2 spacecraft firm-fixed-price contract increased by $28.6 million—or 12 percent—to $273.4 million, and the schedule for completing the spacecraft had been delayed 14 months. We identified several technical performance issues that contributed to the cost increase and schedule delays. Notably, completing development of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) in the payload interface electronics continues to be a major challenge towards finalization of the JPSS-2 spacecraft.