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NOAA-19
NOAA-19, known as NOAA-N' (NOAA-N Prime) before launch, is the last of the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) series of weather satellites. NOAA-19 was launched on 6 February 2009. NOAA-19 is in an afternoon Sun-synchronous orbit and is intended to replace NOAA-18 as the prime afternoon spacecraft. Launch On 4 November 2008, NASA announced that the satellite had arrived at Vandenberg aboard a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy military transport aircraft. Installation of the payload fairing took place 27 January 2009 and the second stage propellant was loaded on 31 January 2009. Several attempts were made to conduct the launch. The first attempt, 4 February 2009, was scrubbed after a failure was detected in a launch pad gaseous nitrogen pressurization system. The second attempt, 5 February 2009, was scrubbed after the failure of a payload fairing air conditioning compressor, which is also part of the ground support equipment at the launch pad. The satellite wa ...
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Television Infrared Observation Satellite
Television InfraRed Observation Satellite (TIROS) is a series of early weather satellites launched by the United States, beginning with TIROS-1 in 1960. TIROS was the first satellite that was capable of remote sensing of the Earth, enabling scientists to view the Earth from a new perspective: space. The program, promoted by Harry Wexler, proved the usefulness of satellite weather observation, at a time when military reconnaissance satellites were secretly in development or use. TIROS demonstrated at that time that "the key to genius is often simplicity". TIROS is an acronym of "Television InfraRed Observation Satellite" and is also the plural of "tiro" which means "a young soldier, a beginner". The Advanced Research Projects Agency (now DARPA) initiated the TIROS program in 1958 and transferred the program to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1959. Participants in the TIROS program also included, Signal Corps (United States Army), United States Army S ...
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NOAA-18
NOAA-18, also known as NOAA-N before launch, is a decommissioned, polar orbiting, weather satellite series (NOAA K-N) operated by the National Environmental Satellite Service (NESS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA-18 also continued the series of Advanced TIROS-N (ATN) spacecraft begun with the launch of NOAA-8 (NOAA-E) in 1983 but with additional new and improved instrumentation over the NOAA A-M series and a new launch vehicle ( Titan 23G). NOAA-18 is in an afternoon equator-crossing orbit and replaced NOAA-17 as the prime afternoon spacecraft. NOAA-18 was decommissioned as of 17:49 UTC, June 6, 2025. Launch NOAA-18 was launched by the Delta II launch vehicle on 20 May 2005 at 10:22:01 UTC from Vandenberg Air Force Base, at Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 4 (SLW-4W), in a Sun-synchronous orbit, at 854 km above the Earth, orbiting every 102.12 minutes. NOAA-18 is in an afternoon equator-crossing orbit and has replaced the NOAA-17 as the ...
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SBUV/2
The Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer, or SBUV/2, is a series of operational remote sensors on NOAA weather satellites in Sun-synchronous orbits which have been providing global measurements of stratospheric total ozone, as well as ozone profiles, since March 1985. The SBUV/2 instruments were developed from the SBUV experiment flown on the Nimbus-7 spacecraft which improved on the design of the original BUV instrument on Nimbus-4. These are nadir viewing radiometric instruments operating at mid to near UV wavelengths. SBUV/2 data sets overlap with data from SBUV and TOMS instruments on the Nimbus-7 spacecraft. These extensive data sets (January 1979 to the present) measure the density and vertical distribution of ozone in the Earth's atmosphere from six to 30 miles. SBUV/2 looks down at the Earth's atmosphere and the reflected sunlight at wavelengths characteristic of ozone. The SBUV/2 wavelength "channels" range from 252 nanometer (nm) to 340 nm. Ozone is measured a ...
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United Launch Alliance
United Launch Alliance, LLC (ULA) is an American launch service provider formed in December 2006 as a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The company designs, assembles, sells and launches rockets, but the company subcontracts out the production of rocket engines and solid rocket boosters. When founded, the company inherited the Atlas rocket family from Lockheed Martin and the Delta rocket family from Boeing. As of 2024, the Delta family has been retired and the Atlas V is in the process of being retired. ULA began development of the Vulcan Centaur in 2014 as replacement for both the Atlas and Delta rocket families. The Vulcan Centaur completed its maiden flight in January 2024. The primary customers of ULA are the Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA, but it also serves commercial clients. Company history Formation Boeing and Lockheed Martin announced on 2 May 2005 that they would establish a 50/50 joint venture, United L ...
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Weather Satellite
A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites are mainly of two types: polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asynchronously) or geostationary (hovering over the same spot on the equator). While primarily used to detect the development and movement of storm systems and other cloud patterns, meteorological satellites can also detect other phenomena such as city lights, fires, effects of pollution, auroras, sand and dust storms, snow cover, ice mapping, boundaries of ocean currents, and energy flows. Other types of environmental information are collected using weather satellites. Weather satellite images helped in monitoring the volcanic ash cloud from Mount St. Helens and activity from other volcanoes such as Mount Etna. Smoke from fires in the western United States such as Colorado and Utah have also been monitored. El Niño and its effects on wea ...
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Advanced Very-high-resolution Radiometer
The Advanced Very-High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument is a space-borne sensor that measures the reflectance of the Earth in five spectral bands that are relatively wide by today's standards. AVHRR instruments are or have been carried by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) family of polar orbiting platforms ( POES) and European MetOp satellites. The instrument scans several channels; two are centered on the red (0.6 micrometres) and near-infrared (0.9 micrometres) regions, a third one is located around 3.5 micrometres, and another two the thermal radiation emitted by the planet, around 11 and 12 micrometres. The first AVHRR instrument was a four-channel radiometer. The final version, AVHRR/3, first carried on NOAA-15 launched in May 1998, acquires data in six channels. The AVHRR has been succeeded by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, carried on the Joint Polar Satellite System spacecraft. Operation NOAA has at le ...
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Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit
The advanced microwave sounding unit (AMSU) is a multi-channel microwave radiometer installed on meteorological satellites. The instrument examines several bands of microwave radiation from the atmosphere to perform atmospheric sounding of temperature and moisture levels. Products Level-1 radiance data are calibrated brightness temperatures. Level-2 geophysical data from AMSU include: * Temperature profile from 3 Bar (unit), mbar (45 km) to the surface * Water vapor profiles * Snow and ice coverage * Cloud liquid water * Rain Rate AMSU data is also used together with infrared radiances from HIRS, AIRS, or IASI to produce blended MW/IR level-2 geophysical products such as: * Temperature profiles * Water vapor profiles * Ozone * Cloud properties * Cloud-cleared IR radiances Applications AMSU data is used extensively in weather prediction. Brightness temperatures are processed as quickly as possible and sent to numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers around the world. ...
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National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploration, and managing fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the US exclusive economic zone. The agency is part of the United States Department of Commerce and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. History NOAA traces its history back to multiple agencies, some of which are among the earliest in the federal government: * United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, formed in 1807 * National Weather Service, Weather Bureau of the United States, formed in 1870 * United States Fish Commission, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, formed in 1871 (research fleet only) * NOAA Commissioned Corps, Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps, formed in 1917 The most direct predecessor of NOAA was the Enviro ...
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Suomi NPP
The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), previously known as the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) and NPP-Bridge, is a weather satellite operated by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It was launched in 2011 and is currently in operation. Suomi NPP was originally intended as a pathfinder for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program, which was to have replaced NOAA's Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and the U.S. Air Force's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). Suomi NPP was launched in 2011 after the cancellation of NPOESS to serve as a stop-gap between the POES satellites and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) which will replace them. Its instruments provide climate measurements that continue prior observations by NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS). Name The satellite is name ...
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Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
The Advanced Very-High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument is a space-borne sensor that measures the reflectance of the Earth in five spectral bands that are relatively wide by today's standards. AVHRR instruments are or have been carried by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) family of polar orbiting platforms ( POES) and European MetOp satellites. The instrument scans several channels; two are centered on the red (0.6 micrometres) and near-infrared (0.9 micrometres) regions, a third one is located around 3.5 micrometres, and another two the thermal radiation emitted by the planet, around 11 and 12 micrometres. The first AVHRR instrument was a four-channel radiometer. The final version, AVHRR/3, first carried on NOAA-15 launched in May 1998, acquires data in six channels. The AVHRR has been succeeded by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, carried on the Joint Polar Satellite System spacecraft. Operation NOAA has at ...
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Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 2
Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC-2) is an active rocket launch site at Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California, United States, USA. It consists of two launch pads: Space Launch Complex 2 East (SLC-2E, originally LC 75-1-1), used by the PGM-17 Thor missile and several of its derivatives from 1958 to 1972; and Space Launch Complex 2 West (SLC-2W, originally LC 75-1-2), which has been in use since 1959 to launch the Delta (rocket family), Thor-Delta family and Delta II, and is currently used by the Firefly Alpha. Space Launch Complex 2 was originally part of Launch Complex 75 (LC 75) and was known by designation LC 75-1 or just 75-1 (and the launch pads were designated LC 75-1-1 and LC 75–1–2). The first launch out of the newly designated Space Launch Complex 2 was that of a Delta E with ESSA-3 on 2 October 1966 from SLC-2E. SLC-2E and SLC-2W are located approximately apart. SLC-2W Thor and Thor-Agena (1959–1968) Space Launch Complex 2 West (originally Launch Complex 75-1 ...
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Sun-synchronous Orbit
A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is an orbit arranged so that it Precession, precesses through one complete revolution each year, so it always maintains the same relationship with the Sun. Applications A Sun-synchronous orbit is useful for imaging satellite, imaging, reconnaissance satellite, reconnaissance, and weather satellites, because every time that the satellite is overhead, the surface illumination angle on the planet underneath it is nearly the same. This consistent lighting is a useful characteristic for satellites that image the Earth's surface in visible or infrared wavelengths, such as weather and spy satellites, and for other remote-sensing satellites, such as those carrying ocean and atmospheric remote-sensing instruments that require sunlight. For example, ...
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