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The next generation of NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system, Series R (GOES-R)
provides continuity of the GOES mission and improvement of its remotely-sensed environmental data. The GOES-R
system consists of the Space and Ground Segments. The Space Segment consists of spacecraft bus, its remote-sensing
instruments, and communications payloads; while the Ground Segment consists of all Earth-based functions, provides
satellite operations and instrument product generation and distribution. This paper presents an overview of the GOES-R
Ground Segment (GS) architecture as it continues to evolve consistent with the GOES-R Ground Segment Project (GSP)
approved requirements documents. The GOES-R Ground Segment operates from three sites. The first is the NOAA
Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF) in Suitland, MD which houses the primary Mission Management (MM), and
selected Enterprise Management (EM), Product Generation (PG), and Product Distribution (PD) functions. The Wallops
Command and Data Acquisition Station (WCDAS), located in Wallops, VA, provides the primary space
communications services, EM and MM functions, and selected PG and PD functions. The third site is a geographically
diverse remote backup facility (RBU) located at Fairmont, WV. The architecture has been developed to allow integrated
operation within a geographically distributed framework. Because of the unique configuration of the Mission
Management Element, the Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Site will have the ability to assume control of
satellite operations in the event of an emergency - when authorized by the primary NSOF controllers. This concept
allows the Enterprise Management element to have available a wide range of capabilities governed by operations policy
rather than the need for system upgrades. This concept also provides flexibility for addition and deletion of modules for
major functions. The use of Service Based Architecture concepts within the Product Generation element (PG) provides
service interaction capabilities for product generation with only a fraction of the necessary overhead.
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