Tom Young Calls for White House Leadership on NPOESS

Tom Young, vice-chair of the NRC’s Space Studies Board and chair of an independent review team for the DOD-NOAA-NASA National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), called on the White House to step in to resolve the future of that troubled program.

During a discussion with Chris Scolese, Acting Administrator of NASA, at the May 13, 2009 SSB meeting, Mr. Young emphasized that the Air Force and NOAA have sharply divergent views on the future of NPOESS that cannot be resolved by those parties. “This program has zero chance unless the White House steps in. I don’t see how these partners can ever reach agreement.”

NPOESS is funded equally by the Air Force and NOAA, with NASA participating in technology development. Its goal is to combine the military and civilian weather satellite programs into a single system, but cost growth and schedule slippage have plagued the program. A decision on whether a single agency should take charge, and if so, which one, is being debated. Mr. Young is a retired Lockheed Martin executive who is often brought in to diagnose troubled space programs and recommend corrective actions.