Envooirnts and oversight will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recesses of the subcommittee at any time. Welcome to todays hearing entitled an overview of the nations Weather Satellite programs and policies. I recognize myself for five minutes for an Opening Statement and then to the Ranking Member, as well. Weve had a number of hearings about all kinds of issues related to satellites from the current programs of record to commercial satellites, we heard testimony about jpss and goes already once this year. This is a Second Opportunity to do so. Some of the concerns that i have are obviously, this is a concern of our country for the accuracy to forecast weather events. For the data which keeps our constituents. This is a good hearing week. We have heard testimony before the delay in goes. We have an extension of some of our programs and we have questions about if that is realistic or not. We have seen know want 16 break apart over thanksgiving and that gives a lot of concern about it didnt just break apart on itself. I know some have suggested that, but it didnt occur on its own. Whatever the case is, it broke apa apa apart and is contributing to more orbital debris, which is a concern. You think about orbital debris, you think about the mpp satellite that also is coming to the end of its useful life. When you look at the npp satellite, is it being pelted by debris . Is it at risk and would that create a gap . Wed also like to discuss know wants commercial space policy which has a wonderful start to, i think, great opportunities for the future to provide more resiliency and redundancy, disaggregated and distributed architectures that the commercial industry can provide to augment. Thank you for holding todays hearing. Id like to thank and welcome our witnesses this morning. As been stated by our chairman, the committees oversight is simple. Its to ensure that both the joint polar satellite system, jpss and the operational enviempbts and the likes are operationally robust when theyre completed, which we all hope is as soon as possible. A satellite plays Critical Role in Weather Forecasting. Losing coverage of either system could have serious, perhaps catastrophic effects on our Public Safety. Both of these weather saturday lites have had a long and rocky pathd. Theyve had technical issues and management challenges. During the subsequent hearing, jpss was the more troubled of the two. Now it looks like goes r has now been delayed by more than 6 months as the chairman said can still be at risk. Delays in these programs increase the cost of satellites, limit the achblgen sills resources for Weather Forecasting and porpt resourszing for weathers oceans and climate sites. These problems are not unique to know want. But this isnt an excuse. I believe noah recognizes this as an unstable model. Shifting back to the team at gao, i understand agency planning. But, to date, just six of these recommendations have been implemented. So im interested more in learning about the remaining conditions. Its important to understand the policies relating to these critical satellites. Noah satellites also provide the data necessary for our models and warnings and products provided by the National Weather services. In fact, the capabilityties are drastly dependent of our satellite programs as well as a highly skilled work force. So while its not the focus of todays hearing, i want to mention some important work that gao is conducting on behalf of missile dependency. Specifically, weve been concerned about the number of vacancies that currently exist in the National WeatherServices Field offices. And weve asked gao to reveal present and future levels in order to support the agencys efforts to evolve and increase Decision Support services. Also central to achieving noahs Public Safety mission. We cant afford a Weather Satellite gap. Its essential to keep these programs on track. I know these are technically difficult that noah needs to address. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I look forward to todays hearing. Thank the Ranking Member for his Opening Statement. Id like to recognize the chairman of the Oversight Committee from georgia. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Good morning to our witnesses and thank you for being here, mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this hearing. Today well be hearing from gao and noah regarding the geostationary satellite programs. The jpss programs that noah maintains has speerngsed setbacks. Today, we intend to change what was learned since last hearing back in february of this year. Detailing concerns that the noah polar satellite program, jpss, is facing an unprecedented gap in satellite data. Gao believes that while it remains within is new life cycle cost estimates, recent rises in technical issues during Development Increase the likelihood of a near term data gap. Additionally, although noah has reduced its potential gap from 15 to only 3 months, gao noted that this assessment was assessed on incomplete data and does not account for the risk to satellite hardware. This is even more concerning in light of a recent breakup of a satellite in orbit. Its data gap may last longer than noah anticipates. The geostationary satellite system. Since its inception, significant increases in costs and scope and as gaos report indicates, no one has reversed or halted this trend as weve seen with the launch pushing a march 2016 date back to october 2016. This means we could be facing a long period without a backup satellite in orbit. History has sewn us that backups are sometimes necessary to reduce risk to Public Safety and the economy. In 2008 and 12, the agency was forced to use backup satellites. A solution we may once again find ourselves needing. When talking about the consequences of a gap and weather data, the devastating effects of extreme weather on the ground. However, professional and personal experience allows me to discuss the impact of gap weather data on aviation weather. As a private pilot, i know the importance of having accurate and timely Weather Forecasts to assess flying conditions. Pilots require accurate weather data to evaluate conditions on the ground and in the sky throughout the entire flight process from takeoff to landing. Without accurate data a pilot runs of risk what was we call getting behind the mean. A general aviation phrase which means the plane is responding to the conditions and the pilot is responding to the plane. A situation that spells trouble for even the most seasoned pilots. Experience as a pilot does not exempt someone from getting behind the meplane as weather deteriorates. As i have conducted many search and rescue missions over the years, even led some of those. Without exception every missing aircraft that we ended up finding as a result of weather resulted in a fatality. We were basically taking remains home to the family so they could be comforted they were found. Your experience doesnt matter, even the most experienced aviators, when they get in a weather situation, it can spell disaster. One of those being scott crossfield, a pioneer in aviation in america. He was the second to break the sound barrier. We conducted a search and rescue mission to find the remains of his plane as it broke up in a thunderstorm over northeast georgia. My personal experience as well, once flying to florida, i was had accurate satellite weather data in the cockpit with me which showed thunderstorms coming off the gulf of mexico. I was able to accurately determine not only that i should be able to beat the thunderstorm into my destination but also alternate airports to my west that were clear and available. Without that, i could have ended up in a very difficult situation or not made it to my destination. As i was flying in, i also heard of other pilots who didnt have that information with mayday calls being into the weather. With our reliance on gps weather data, mr. Chairman, im afraid that without accurate weather these incidents would be more frequent. From this perspective you can see how a gap in weather data and consequently less accurate forecasts could negatively affect not only commercial Flight Safety but also the 1. 5 trillion in total Economic Activity that the Aviation Industry contributes to the national economy. I hope that todays hearing will shed some light on the complex schedule and cost demands facing those Weather Satellite programs and that the subcommittees will walk away with better equ equipped to consider these issues moving forward. Mr. Chairman, i know as an aviator yourself you understand this as well and i yield back the balance of my time. Id like to thank chairman louder milk for his comments. Certainly i have been in those situations myself and i appreciate your testimony on them. Let me introduce our witnesses. Our first witness today is dr. Steven volz, assistant administrator of National Environmental satellite data and Information Services at noaa. Dr. Volz has a ph. D. In experimental matter condensed physicianics at university of illinois, champagne. A bachelor in physicianics from illinois and university of virginia. Our second witness is mr. David powner, direction of Information TechnologyManagement Issues at gao. Mr. Powner received his bachelors degree in Business Administration from the university of denver and attended the Senior ExecutiveFellows Program at harvard. In order to allow time for discussion please limit your testimony to five minutes. Your entire written statement will be made a part of the record and we on this committee have mostly probably already read it. I now recognize dr. Volz for five minutes to present his testimony. Good morning, chairman, Ranking Member buyer, members of the subcommittees. Thank you for the invitation to participate in todays hearing and discuss the status of noaas satellite programs. As many of you have mentioned noaa provides Environmental Intelligence in a global way that is timely, accurate, actionable, and reliable. Space spacebased information to citizens, communities and businesses as they need to stay safe and to operate efficiently. The noaa satellite portfolio provides Continuous Satellite Data that are interfederal to Weather Forecasting and noaa working with nasa conducts essential Satellite Development to ensure continuity of this critical service. Our current operation algae owe stationary and polar satellites provide space base weather data required to support noaas National Weather service and as well as the private weather industry and many other users who rely on those services as well. The geo stationary satellites currently in orbit goes east and goes west to provide constant monitoring from the atlantic ocean, the continental united states, hawaii, the Pacific Ocean for weather and are backed up by a fully functioning spare satellite situated in between them ready to provide backup in the event of a significant sat lie anomaly of the others. For the next generation geo stationary satellite gozar. While we are working diligently toward this date there are still risks ahead of us to get in new highly capable and complex satellite launched on time. Noaa and nasa are working with contractors to identify and mitigate risks, applying all appropriate resources and expertise to meet this important launch milestone. To that end were monitoring the health of our current onorbit assets to ensure were maximi maximizing their utility. Meanwhile, while thats going on with the flight hardware, the ground system for gozar and the User Community continue to prepare for the launch and rapid exploitation of the new data stream once it begins. From the polar orbiting the salutes the first sat lift the jpss program is performing exceptionally as noaas primary afternoon polar satellite. Four years into its operating mission the highresolution sounders are continuously providing essential observations, feeding the National Weather services numerical weather prediction models and ultimate the Weather Forecasts we all depend on. Assuming mpp veers imagery has brought muchimproved off serve elevations of sea ice, arc tuck waters, as well as lowlight, nighttime clout imagery for that region as well. Pole orbiting satellite are particularly important in alaska and polar stations where satellites cannot effectively observe. The second satellite of the jpss program, jpss 1, will be launched providing Global Coverage and increasing the data flow supporting the nws and the User Community. Jpss 2 continues in development, manage expertly by nasa and noaa, and is proceeding on schedule for a late 21 launch as well. Noaas observing system includes beyond these two satellite systems, the jason 2 and discover satellites, soon will include jason 3, the cosmic 2 constellation, and hopefully the cooperati cooperative search and rescue mission cedars, essential environmentaling observationobs. In all of these systems noaa draws extensively on the expertise of academia and private industry, relies heavily on productive partnerships with other u. S. Agencies including specifically the u. S. Air force and nasa, and on International Agencies including umetsat and kines to meet our observing needs. We also are expanding our approach to access to space through the commercially hosted payload approach for cedars, to find more efficient methods of access to space. In closing, since joining noaa just over a year ago, i have continued to work the work started by my predecessors to steadily rebuild the robustness of the nations operational Weather Satellite constellations. Our current polar and geo stationary satellites are aging but generally healthy as they continue to provide observations. We are making steady progress to launch the next generation of polar and geo stationary satellites in the coming year. To continue and improve the reliability and quality of these earth observations. Noaa works closely with that is sa, our acquisition agent, and industry and academic partners to implement Proven Development processes so we can meet our Critical Mission milestones. Decisions are continuously being made by individuals, governments and businesses based on the Weather Forecasts. Spacebased observations are vital. To produce and deliver these forecasts and noaa values the longstanding interest of the economy and satellite programs and we appreciate the congressional support to ensure these critical National Weather programs achieve the robustness needed to support the nations weather enterprise. Thank you and i look forward to the conversation. Thank you for your testimony, dr. Volz. You were right on the fiveminute mark which is what we expect from our noaa and former nasa folks. So thank you for that. Mr. Powner, you are recognized for five minutes. Chairman brighten side, lauder milk, Ranking Member buyer, members of the subcommittees. Earlier this year we test guide on the goz and jpss satellite systems. At that time we expressed concern about the goz march 2016 launch date and potential gaps in satellite coverage. As we have heard the goz launch date has been delayed again. I will provide updates on both acquisitions by displaying three graphics which provide key launch dates and aspects of these satellites, many of which have been recently expended. The three goz satellites that are in space. The first bar is 13 which covers the eastern half of the united states, the third bar is goz 15 which offers the western half. The middle 14 is your on orbit spare. Noaas policy is to have a spare if something goes wrong with the operational satellites. The red bars represent an extension to the span of the operational satellites from the last time we testified. When asked what this was based on we were given a 2005 document supporting the life span extension. So a key question is why noaa did not disclose this sooner. Ill add in noaas 2016 budget submission these red extensions were not included on their flyout charts. This is an area where noaa needs to be more open and transparent with the congress, especially since longer life spans affect the timing of future launches and the annual funding of these satellites as ill get into on the next chart. Before we leave this chart id like to comment on there have been problems with goz 13 that have been mentioned and the backup has been moved into operation several. Also, currently a key sensor on goz 13 has not been working since november 20th. Moving to the next chart. What this next chart does, the first three bars are basically just replicate what you just saw with the extended life span. The fourth bar represents gozar and the delay in the launch to october 2016. I have three comments on this chart. First, the gozar bar, the fourth bar down, the delay occurred due to technical problems in about two years of extremely poor schedule performance. The program was losing about ten days per month for a 24month period. Mr. Chairman, in our opinion, noaa should have more clearly disclosed the