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Lockheed Martin-built Advanced Polar Operational Environmental Satellite Ready for Launch |
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SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 10, 2005/Satnews Daily/ ¾ The NOAA-N spacecraft, a Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES), is set for launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. tomorrow, May 11, 2005.
Built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. (NYSE:LMT), NOAA-N is the latest in the Advanced TIROS-N (ATN) satellite series. All have been designed and built for the NASA by Lockheed since the first Television and Infrared Observational Satellite (TIROS) weather satellite launch in April 1960. NASA is managing the spacecraft's launch and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will operate the satellite once in space. Over many years of service, the TIROS satellites have earned the reputation as the workhorses of the Civil Space Earth-imaging inventory.
The NOAA-N spacecraft will be launched from the Western Range Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, by a two-stage Delta II 7320-10 space launch vehicle. Liftoff is slated to occur at 3:22 a.m. PDT. There will be a 10-minute window in which to launch.
A constellation consists of two POES satellites circling the planet in nearly north-south orbits. As the Earth rotates, the entire globe, one swath at a time rolls into view of the satellites' instruments. The satellites provide measurements of reflected solar and radiated thermal energy from land, sea, clouds and the atmosphere in the visible and infrared spectrum, atmospheric soundings of temperature and humidity, measurements of global sea surface temperature, aerosol distribution data, ozone concentration data, soil moisture data, and measurements of orbital proton and electron flux.
POES satellites also collect data from remote platforms, relay search and rescue data, and also provide direct broadcast of environmental data worldwide. Data from the spacecraft supports a broad range of environmental monitoring applications including weather analysis and forecasting, climate research and prediction, ocean dynamics research, volcanic eruption monitoring and forest fire detection.
Together these data comprise irreplaceable inputs to the numerical weather forecast model and are vital to medium and long-range forecasting. Separately or in combination, the data are utilized to produce sea-surface temperature maps, ice condition charts, vegetation maps and other forecasting and management tools.
The NOAA-N spacecraft is 13.75 feet long by 6.2 feet in diameter, and weighs 3130 pounds at liftoff. Its solar array has 180.6 square feet of surface area and generates 833 watts at a zero degree sun angle. The instruments onboard NOAA-N were provided by NASA and NOAA, and include the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR/3), the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS/4), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A1, A2), the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS), the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer (SBUV/2), the Space Environment Monitor (SEM/2) and the Data Collection System (DCS/2).
In addition, NOAA-N carries two search and rescue instruments, the Search and Rescue Repeater (SARR) and the Search and Rescue Processor (SARP) that are used internationally for locating ships, aircraft, and people in distress. The use of satellites in search and rescue has been instrumental in saving more than 17,000 lives since the inception of the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system.
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