JPSS-2, or Joint Polar Satellite System-2, is the second of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's latest generation of U.S. polar-orbiting, non-geosynchronous, environmental satellites called the Joint Polar Satellite System. JPSS-2 will join NOAA-20 the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite in the same orbit. Circling the Earth from pole-to-pole, it will cross the equator about 14 times daily, providing full global coverage twice a day.

NASA's LOFTID (Low Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator) is demonstrating a cross-cutting aeroshell -- a type of heat shield -- for atmospheric re-entry. For destinations with an atmosphere, one of the challenges NASA faces is how to deliver heavy payloads (experiments, equipment, and people) because current rigid aeroshells are constrained by a rocket’s shroud size. One answer is an inflatable aeroshell that can be deployed to a scale much larger than the shroud. This technology enables a variety of proposed NASA missions to destinations such as Mars, Venus, Titan as well as return to Earth.

LOFTID is demonstrating a large aeroshell -- 6 meters in diameter or about 20 feet -- entry from low-Earth orbit, to demonstrate this technology in conditions relevant to many potential applications.

After JPSS-2 reaches orbit, LOFTID will be put on a reentry trajectory from low-Earth orbit to demonstrate the inflatable aeroshell or heat shield’s ability to slow down and survive re-entry.