NPPy: Big Planet, Little Bear

  • Released Tuesday, June 7, 2011
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NPP is the prototype of the next generation weather satellites, named JPSS. NPP has five instruments on board and will continue the legacy of existing weather satellites like Terra and Aqua. NPP will deliver critical data not only for weather forecasters but for scientists who are trying to understand how climate is changing over long periods of time.

NPPy: Big Planet, Little Bear
As we know polar bears are most affected by the warming of our planet and the melting of ice around the poles. That's why it is very important that satellites like NPP constantly monitor the Earth's health from space to help scientists build models and predict how climate is changing over time. In this series of animated videos NPPy the bear walks along with his mom and tells us what he's learned about the NPP mission and it's importance for everyone who lives on planet Earth. Follow NPPy in this and other episodes to come and find out more about his adventures and the NPP mission!

For complete transcript, click here.

Who is NPPy?
The main character in the 'Big Planet, Little Bear' video series represents the NPP mission mascot who happens to be a little stuffed polar bear, named NPPy. NPPy was found by the NPP Ground Project Manager Dan DeVito in a place called Svalbard, located 600 miles from the North Pole. Since then, Dan and other people on the NPP project have taken NPPy along when they travel to different locations involved in the mission. So the little stuffed bear NPPy has travelled to every continent and learned a lot about how important the NPP mission is to life on Earth. Watch this video to learn more about NPPy and find out why he has so many pins on his vest.

For complete transcript, click here.

StillsHigh resolution still images of NPPy the bear.

Stills
High resolution still images of NPPy the bear.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Tuesday, June 7, 2011.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:53 PM EDT.

Missions

This visualization is related to the following missions:

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series:

Tapes

This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:
  • NPPy with Dan DeVito (ID: 2011048)
    Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 4:00AM
  • NPPy: Big Planet, Little Bear (ID: 2011024)
    Monday, June 6, 2011 at 4:00AM
    Produced by - Jesse Allen (Raytheon)