LORWG Charter

1. Governance and Purpose




The Low-Earth Orbiting Requirements Working Group (LORWG) is a body established under the NOAA Observing System Council (NOSC) for the purpose of representing NOAA and Non-NOAA users to identify their observational requirements, in particular those which have been allocated to low-Earth orbiting satellite systems. Primary functions of the LORWG are to:

1. Serve as the primary focal point for all NOAA Line Office low-Earth orbiting satellite observational requirements


2. Develop NOAA inputs to low-Earth orbiting satellite systems’ requirements documents and coordinate them within NOAA


3. Prepare user impact assessments responding to low-Earth orbiting satellite technical program changes that could impact system requirement satisfaction


4. Review and recommend changes to low-Earth orbiting satellites requirements documents



2. Membership



1. Chair: JPSS (LEO) Program Scientist will chair the LORWG.


2. Voting Members: Chair, a representative from each NOAA Line Office (NWS, NESDIS, NOS, OAR and NMFS)


3. Non-Voting Members


1. Advisors: A representative from any NESDIS Program Office will be retained in an advisory capacity as needed.


2. Ad-hoc Subject Matter Experts: Attend meetings as needed.


3. JPSS (LEO) Product Portfolio Manager


4. Executive Secretariat



3. Roles and Responsibilities



1. LORWG


1. Serves as the NOAA program observational requirements identification body for low-Earth orbiting satellite programs


2. Develops and sustains NOAA low-Earth orbiting satellite systems’ requirements documents and/or inputs to requirements documents and coordinates them within NOAA


3. Prepares user requirement satisfaction assessments and recommendations for the NOSC in response to major program decision phases


4. Prepares user requirement satisfaction assessments in response to proposed program changes that could impact system requirements


5. Prepares user impact assessments for anomalies for the NOSC during the Operations Phases of low-Earth orbiting satellite programs


6. Provides input to DACS (Data-source Agnostic Common Services) product prioritization for continuity, and enhancement of current and future capabilities.


7. Provides input as needed to the Satellite Products and Services Review Board (SPSRB) to assist in project planning and execution.


2. NOAA Observing Systems Council (NOSC)


1. Serves as the program requirements validation body in its role as the principal advisory body to the Under Secretary for NOAA’s Earth observation and environmental observation-related data management (end-to-end collection, processing, storage, archiving, accessing, and disseminating) activities


2. Serves as the parent body of the LORWG providing routine oversight of LORWG activities


3. Reviews and recommends for approval for low-earth orbiting satellite system requirements documents


4. Tasks the LORWG to assess requirements-related issues


5. Reviews LORWG user requirements satisfaction assessments.


6. Reviews Mission Control Program Implementation Changes if those changes deemed to significantly impact users


3. JPSS Program Office (JPO), Low-Earth Orbiting Satellite Program/Project Managers


1. Serves as the program execution body, responsible for program technology and programmatic planning, systems engineering, pre-acquisition, acquisition development and deployment, Operations and Maintenance (O&M), decommissioning, and disposal to the responsible offices


2. Provides programmatic alternatives identified to the LORWG and NOSC for user requirements satisfaction assessments


3. Provides program change direction recommendations during the Acquisition Phase to the LORWG and NOSC for user requirement satisfaction assessments


4. Documents and maintains the Level 1 and other requirement documents as needed, in coordination with the LORWG.



4. Meeting Frequency




Meetings are held as often as necessary, with a minimum meeting frequency being on a quarterly basis.

5. Decision Making Process




While the appropriate Chair exercises 51% of the vote in developing LORWG recommendations, the goal is to achieve as broad a consensus as possible among all voting members. All dissenting positions will be documented.




6. Terms of the Charter




This Charter will be revisited annually and updated as necessary to ensure the effort is aligned with program and organizational priorities