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Louis Uccellini, Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Prediction, talks about the planned Oct. 27 launch of the first Earth-observing satellite to measure both global climate changes and key weather variables during a briefing, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) is the first mission designed to collect critical data to improve weather forecasts in the short-term and increase our understanding of long-term climate change.