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NOAA-N Prime
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of the total electromagnetic radiation output from the Sun. It is also produced by electric arcs, Cherenkov radiation, and specialized lights, such as mercury-vapor lamps, tanning lamps, and black lights. The photons of ultraviolet have greater energy than those of visible light, from about 3.1 to 12 electron volts, around the minimum energy required to ionize atoms. Although long-wavelength ultraviolet is not considered an ionizing radiation because its photons lack sufficient energy, it can induce chemical reactions and cause many substances to glow or fluoresce. Many practical applications, including chemical and biological effects, are derived from the way that UV radiation can interact with organic molecules. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nadir
The nadir is the direction pointing directly ''below'' a particular location; that is, it is one of two vertical directions at a specified location, orthogonal to a horizontal flat surface. The direction opposite of the nadir is the zenith. Etymology Although it entered English via other European languages, the word “nadir” is ultimately an Arabic loanword. It comes from the Arabic word “nazir”, meaning “opposite to”. More specifically, it originated from the Arabic phrase “nazir as-samt”, meaning “ heopposite direction”. Hebrew (whether ancient or modern) is a related language to Arabic, as they are both Semitic languages. Hebrew also has a word “nadir” (נדיר), but with a somewhat different meaning: it is an adjective meaning “rare”. However, the same word also has a specialized usage to match its meaning in other languages like English. Definitions Space science Since the concept of ''being below'' is itself somewhat vague, scientists define ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ball Aerospace & Technologies
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., commonly Ball Aerospace, was an American manufacturer of spacecraft, components and instruments for national defense, civil space and commercial space applications. Until 2024, the firm was a wholly owned subsidiary of Ball Corporation, with primary offices in Boulder, Colorado, and facilities in Broomfield and Westminster in Colorado, with smaller offices in New Mexico, Ohio, northern Virginia, Missouri and Maryland. It was acquired by BAE Systems Inc. in 2024, and is operated as a new division within BAE called Space & Mission systems. History Ball Aerospace began building pointing controls for military rockets in 1956. The aerospace part of the Ball Corporation was then known as Ball Brothers Research Corporation, and later won a contract to build some of NASA's first spacecraft, the Orbiting Solar Observatory satellites. The company has been responsible for numerous technological and scientific projects and continues to provide aerospac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global ocean, covering Water distribution on Earth, 70.8% of Earth's crust. The remaining 29.2% of Earth's crust is land, most of which is located in the form of continental landmasses within Earth's land hemisphere. Most of Earth's land is at least somewhat humid and covered by vegetation, while large Ice sheet, sheets of ice at Polar regions of Earth, Earth's polar polar desert, deserts retain more water than Earth's groundwater, lakes, rivers, and Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water combined. Earth's crust consists of slowly moving tectonic plates, which interact to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Earth's outer core, Earth has a liquid outer core that generates a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ITT Inc
ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses include Industrial Process, Motion Technologies, and Connect and Control Technologies. ITT has over 10,000 employees in more than 35 countries and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company's long-standing brands include Goulds Pumps, Cannon connectors, KONI shock absorbers and Enidine energy absorption components. The company was founded in 1920 as International Telephone & Telegraph. During the 1960s and 1970s, under the leadership of CEO Harold Geneen, the company rose to prominence as the archetypal conglomerate, deriving its growth from hundreds of acquisitions in diversified industries. ITT divested its telecommunications assets in 1986. In 1995, the company sold off its hospitality portfolio, including Sherat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermal Radiation
Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation emitted by the thermal motion of particles in matter. All matter with a temperature greater than absolute zero emits thermal radiation. The emission of energy arises from a combination of electronic, molecular, and lattice oscillations in a material. Kinetic energy is converted to electromagnetism due to charge-acceleration or dipole oscillation. At room temperature, most of the emission is in the infrared (IR) spectrum, though above around 525 °C (977 °F) enough of it becomes visible for the matter to visibly glow. This visible glow is called incandescence. Thermal radiation is one of the fundamental mechanisms of heat transfer, along with conduction and convection. The primary method by which the Sun transfers heat to the Earth is thermal radiation. This energy is partially absorbed and scattered in the atmosphere, the latter process being the reason why the sky is visibly blue. Much of the Sun's radiation tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infrared
Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those of red light (the longest waves in the visible spectrum), so IR is invisible to the human eye. IR is generally (according to ISO, CIE) understood to include wavelengths from around to . IR is commonly divided between longer-wavelength thermal IR, emitted from terrestrial sources, and shorter-wavelength IR or near-IR, part of the solar spectrum. Longer IR wavelengths (30–100 μm) are sometimes included as part of the terahertz radiation band. Almost all black-body radiation from objects near room temperature is in the IR band. As a form of EMR, IR carries energy and momentum, exerts radiation pressure, and has properties corresponding to both those of a wave and of a particle, the photon. It was long known that fires e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Visible Spectrum
The visible spectrum is the spectral band, band of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visual perception, visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called ''visible light'' (or simply light). The optical spectrum is sometimes considered to be the same as the visible spectrum, but some authors define the term more broadly, to include the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum as well, known collectively as ''optical radiation''. A typical human eye will respond to wavelengths from about 380 to about 750 nanometers. In terms of frequency, this corresponds to a band in the vicinity of 400–790 Terahertz (unit), terahertz. These boundaries are not sharply defined and may vary per individual. Under optimal conditions, these limits of human perception can extend to 310 nm (ultraviolet) and 1100 nm (near infrared). The spectrum does not contain all the colors that the human visual system can distinguish. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
