Nextage Engineer Honored With NOAA Office of LEO Observations Unsung Hero Award
April 20, 2026
By: Brooke Owen
For over fourteen years Nextage has provided engineering services capable of supporting the full life cycle of a space mission, from proposal through mission operations. Our team always had an affinity for electrical engineering, however, over the last few years our ground systems engineering services have become quite a popular offering. We’ve provided these engineering services on missions like Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1), and Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).
In order to support these missions we’ve brought on specialized engineers like Amy Harrigan, who has worked at Nextage as a Satellite Simulations Operations Engineer for over five years. Amy is currently representing Nextage on the JPSS mission, and her team was recently recognized for their contributions, winning the Unsung Hero award.
About the Unsung Hero Award
From the NOAA Office of Low Earth Orbit Observations, the Unsung Hero Award highlights individuals whose impactful contributions often go unnoticed but are essential to program success. This recognition celebrates those who work diligently behind the scenes to support critical mission needs.
Alongside Amy, JPSS Ground System Engineers Mike Crisci and Christian Bannerman were also honored for their efforts in ensuring the mission operations team maintains reliable access to ground environments, thus enabling continuous product development and rigorous testing that underpins the program’s ongoing success.
Amy’s Experience
Amy plays a key role in validating system updates and maintaining critical ground capabilities. She wears many hats serving as the Ground System Engineer, Flight Director, and Software Simulator Operations Engineer during day-to-day testing. In these roles she leads testing efforts, and identifies then reports issues to ensure they are resolved quickly so mission operations teams can continue product development and testing without disruption.
Reflecting on her experience, Amy said, “I’ve learned how to better multitask as I support multiple roles at the same time since I am Ground System Engineer, Flight Director, and Software Simulator Operations Engineer during day-to-day testing. I often have to fill two of those positions at the same time during test events as well.”
Nextage is incredibly proud of Amy and the phenomenal work she has done to support this critical mission. JPSS is considered the backbone of the environmental global observing system, and our team members do not take that responsibility lightly. At Nextage we aim to hire highly skilled and dedicated individuals, we're thrilled that the NOAA Office of Low Earth Orbit Observations recognized that in Amy.
About Nextage’s Engineering Services
Nextage provides flexible engineering services designed to fill critical gaps in your program without the need for long-term hiring. Whether you require a systems engineer but don’t have the budget for a full-time employee, or only need support for the duration of a short project, our team is ready to step in. We offer the expertise you need, exactly when you need it, anywhere in the world.
Our goal is to help you maintain momentum and deliver results without unnecessary overhead.
Learn more about our engineering services: https://nextage-llc.com/services/
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