The latest polar-orbiting operational environmental weather satellite developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, called NOAA-N Prime, arrived Tuesday at Vandenberg AFB in California by C-5A military cargo aircraft. Preparations are now underway for a February 4, 2009, launch. NOAA-N Prime, built by Lockheed Martin, is similar to NOAA-N launched on May 20, 2005.

The satellite will be launched from the Western Range at Vandenberg AFB by a United Launch Alliance two-stage Delta II rocket managed by NASA's Launch Service Program at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. NOAA-N Prime is the latest satellite in the Advanced Television Infrared Observational Satellites –N series built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. NOAA-N Prime will provide a polar-orbiting platform to support environmental monitoring instruments for imaging and measuring the Earth's atmosphere, its surface and cloud cover, including Earth radiation, atmospheric ozone, aerosol distribution, sea surface temperature, and vertical temperature and water profiles in the troposphere and stratosphere. The satellite will assist in measuring proton and electron fluxes at orbit altitude, collecting data from remote platforms and will assist the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking system. On Nov. 5, the satellite will be removed from its shipping container and rotated from the horizontal to vertical position. Spacecraft systems testing and launch preparations will then start, which will take about a month.