The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) of the NOAA, is responsible for establishing funding and managing civil operational environmental satellite systems.  In November, 1998, NOAA entered into an agreement with the EUMETSAT to participate in the Initial Joint Polar-orbiting Satellite System (IJPS). The agreement calls for cooperation between NOAA and EUMETSAT to provide meteorological data for "Morning" and "Afternoon" orbits by complementing each other's polar satellite global coverage. Under this agreement NOAA will also provide some of the instruments on-board the EUMETSAT satellites. (see article from NOAA Report February 1999)

The primary mission objective of the IJPS is to collect and exchange polar satellite environmental data between NOAA and EUMETSAT and disseminate the data to users in support of operational meteorological and environmental forecasting and global climate monitoring. The environmental data collected by IJPS satellites (NOAA-N, -N', METOP-1, -2) will be both stored on-board the satellites for later downloading as well as broadcast in real-time to local user receiving stations. 

IJPS Satellites Payloads IJPS Spacecraft Characteristic