Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has inaugurated a critical tool that will reduce the risk associated with developing the spacecraft for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program. The Electrical Engineering Model Test Bed (EEMTB) is a high-fidelity electrical model of the NPOESS satellite, consisting of subsystem engineering models and sensor engineering development units integrated in a flight-like electrical configuration. It is capable of "test as you fly," real-time, closed-loop testing to validate the spacecraft design and substantially reduce risk during integration and test. The spacecraft design will be validated through continuous testing as the subsystems are added to incrementally build up the test bed over the coming months. The nation's nexgen, low-Earth orbiting operational weather and climate monitoring system, NPOESS is designed, and is being built, to provide vast improvements in the timeliness and accuracy and fidelity of critical information for both defense and civil needs. Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for NPOESS and leads an industrial team under contract to the tri-agency NPOESS Integrated Program Office.