GOES-R reference architecture. Satellites transmit raw instrument data directly to a processing station. The data are compressed and sent back to the satellites, which then relay the data using a wide-area broadcast. The NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF) will house mission management (MM), product generation (PG), product distribution (PD), and the Satellite Operations Control Center (SOCC). NSOF will receive telemetry and instrument data directly from the satellite but will not transmit to the satellites because of FCC restrictions. Commands will be issued by SOCC and sent to the Command and Data Acquisition Station (CDAS) for relay to the satellites. Likewise, the GOES Rebroadcast (GRB) data will be assembled at NSOF and sent to CDAS for uplink to the satellites. GOES-R will maintain a 30-day archive of environmental data products. As new products are generated, old products will be transmitted to the Comprehensive Large Array Data Stewardship System (CLASS). L0 refers to raw data sorted by instrument at full space-time resolution, L1b are calibrated and resampled data in engineering units, and L2+ are derived products (like the cloud cover pictures in nightly weather forecasts). Both L0 and L1b include metadata needed for further processing.