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NOAA-17
(M) ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED
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| | | Launch
of NOAA-M satellite | | | A
new environmental satellite that will improve weather forecasting and monitor
environmental events around the world soared into space this morning after a picture-perfect
launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA)-17(M) spacecraft lifted off at 11:23 a.m. PDT on an Air
Force-launched Titan II rocket. Approximately six and one-half minutes later,
the spacecraft separated from the Titan II second stage. Shortly
after liftoff, flight controllers tracked the launch vehicle's progress using
real-time telemetry data relayed through NASA's Tracking and Date Relay Satellite
System. Approximately 30 minutes after launch, controllers acquired the spacecraft
through the McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, ground station and confirmed NOAA-M's solar
array had successfully deployed. At 12:49 p.m. PDT controllers acquired the spacecraft
at Oakhanger Station, England, and verified the spacecraft power system was nominal.
NOAA-M was renamed NOAA-17 after achieving orbit.
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| | | Launch
of NOAA-M satellite | | | NOAA-17
is the third in a series of five Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites
(POES) with instruments that provide improved imaging and sounding capabilities
and operate over the next 10 years. Like
the two previous satellites, NOAA-17's Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit has additional
channels that will provide improved temperature and water vapor monitoring throughout
the troposphere and the stratosphere, especially under very cloudy conditions.
Its Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer includes a new sixth channel in the
visible range that will be used to provide the capability to distinguish between
clouds and snow/ice on the ground. This
latest series of satellites also features significantly increased weight, power,
and computer memory to support the new instruments as well as improvements to
the spacecraft's command system. "We're
off to a great start," said Karen Halterman, POES program manager at NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "The spacecraft is now in orbit
and all data indicate we have a healthy spacecraft." NASA
will turn operational control of the NOAA-17 spacecraft over to NOAA in 21 days.
NASA's comprehensive on-orbit data and instrument verification period is expected
to take about 45 days. The
NOAA-17 satellite was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif.,
and launched for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under technical
guidance and project management by the Goddard Space Flight Center. Like
other NOAA satellites, NOAA-17 will collect meteorological data and transmit the
information to users around the world to enhance weather forecasting. In the United
States, the data will be used primarily by NOAA's National Weather Service for
its long-range weather and climate forecasts. Data
from the NOAA spacecraft are also used by researchers within NASA's Earth Science
Enterprise to better understand and protect our home planet.
NASA,
NOAA TO LAUNCH NEW ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE
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1 | | | A
new environmental satellite, NOAA-M, is being planned for launch June 24 from
Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., NOAA and NASA announced today. NOAA-M will
lift off aboard an Air Force Titan II launch vehicle at 11:22 a.m. PDT (2:22 p.m.
EDT). The launch window extends for approximately 10 minutes. ìThe
NOAA-M satellite will improve weather forecasting and monitor environmental events
around the world,î said Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., USN (ret.), Under Secretary
of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and NOAA Administrator.
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2 | | | The
satellite will enable continuity of data for monitoring events such as El Nino,
droughts, volcanic ash, fires, and floods. In addition, it will support of the
international COSPAS-SARSAT system by providing search and rescue capabilities
essential for detection and location of ships, aircraft, and people in distress,î
Lautenbacher added. NOAA-M
is the third in a series of five Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites
(POES) with improved imaging and sounding capabilities that will operate over
the next 10 years. Like other NOAA satellites, NOAA-M will collect meteorological
data and transmit the information
to users around the world to enhance weather forecasting. The data will be used
primarily by NOAA's National Weather Service for its weather and climate forecasts.
NOAA-M will be re-named NOAA-17 after achieving orbit.
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3 | | | The
polar-orbiting satellites monitor the entire Earth, tracking atmospheric variables
and providing atmospheric data and cloud images. They track global weather patterns
affecting the weather and climate of the United States. The satellites provide
visible and infrared radiometer data for imaging purposes, radiation measurements,
and temperature and moisture profiles. The polar orbiters' ultraviolet sensors
also measure ozone levels in the atmosphere and are able to detect the ozone hole
over Antarctica from mid-September to mid-November. Each day, these satellites
send global measurements to NOAA's Command and Data Acquisition station computers,
adding vital information to forecasting models, especially over the oceans, where
conventional data are lacking. NOAA's
environmental satellite system is composed of two types of satellites: Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) for national, regional, short-range
warning and "now-casting"; and the polar-orbiting satellites for global
forecasting and environmental monitoring. Both GOES and POES are necessary for
providing a complete global weather monitoring system. Both also carry search
and rescue instruments to relay signals from aviators and mariners in distress.
These satellites are operated by NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data,
and Information Service in Suitland, Md. NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., is responsible for the construction,
integration, launch and verification testing of the spacecraft, instruments and
unique ground equipment. NASA turns operational control of the spacecraft over
to NOAA after 21 days of comprehensive subsystem checkout. An on-orbit instrument
performance verification period lasts an additional 24 days. Lockheed Martin Missiles
and Space Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., built the spacecraft, under contract to Goddard.
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4 | | | Data
from the NOAA spacecraft are used by researchers within NASA's Earth Science Enterprise,
a long-term research program designed to study Earth's land, oceans, atmosphere,
ice and life as a total integrated system.
NOAA-M
Continues Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite Series
Click
here for NOAA-M animations and slates.
Since the 1960s, NASA has developed polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites
for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA-M, the latest
NOAA spacecraft, is scheduled for launch in the summer of 2002.
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5 | | | The
NOAA satellites carry instruments that observe our Earth and provide global data
for NOAA’s operational user requirements including short-, medium-, and long-range
weather forecasts. The operational system consists of two polar-orbiting satellites.
One operates in an afternoon orbit and the other in a morning orbit with equator
crossing times chosen to maximize the usefulness of the data for a variety of
applications. These
spacecraft monitor the entire Earth, providing atmospheric measurements of temperature,
humidity, ozone and cloud images as they track weather patterns that affect the
global weather and climate. The satellites send millions of global measurements
daily to NOAA’s Command and Data Acquisition stations in Fairbanks, Alaska,
and Wallops Island, Virginia, and to its data processing center in Suitland, Maryland,
adding valuable information to forecasting models, especially for ocean areas,
where conventional groundbased data are lacking. Currently,
NOAA has two operational polar orbiters: NOAA-16, launched in September 2000,
into a 2:00 p.m. local solar time orbit and NOAA-15, launched in May 1998, into
a 7:30 a.m. local solar time orbit. NOAA-M will replace NOAA-15 in a 10:00 a.m.
local solar time orbit.
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6 | | | The
new 10:00 a.m. orbit will allow NOAA-M to carry the same instruments as the 2:00
p.m. satellite (both cross the equator two hours away from noon), and allows for
the generation of the same product suite from each orbit. NOAA-M will be renamed
NOAA-17 after achieving orbit. The satellites receive a letter designation while
under construction on the ground and are then renamed with a numerical designation
after launch. This is done because the satellites are built in alphabetical order
but are not necessarily launched in this same order. Therefore, to avoid confusion,
they are numbered upon reaching orbit. Back
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