How can SMG forecast the weather for worldwide landing sites from Houston?
SMG accesses, decodes, and displays a tremendous amount of data for the Shuttle landing sites. This includes a full suite of digital model output from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), mesoscale network data, worldwide surface and upper air observations, NWS and military text data, and high-resolution weather satellite imagery from GOES-East, GOES-West, METEOSAT-7, and GMS. Many of these datasets are integrated and displayed via the NWS Advanced Weather Information Processing System (AWIPS) and the JSC Meteorological Interactive Data Display System (MIDDS). SMG receives a full suite of WSR-88D radar products via a dedicated line to NWSO Melbourne, FL and NWSO Houston/Galveston, TX. During launch and landing countdowns, SMG has hot-line access to landing site observers, and can direct the flight paths of weather reconnaissance aircraft flown by astronauts deployed to landing sites. SMG routinely forecasts for ALL shuttle landing sites between missions to develop s
