Titan 2 Successfully Launches NOAA Weather Satellite

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Titan 2 Successfully Launches NOAA Weather Satellite

More Information:

A Titan 2 successfully launched NOAA M from Vandenberg AFB, pad SLC-4W, at 1823:03.656 UTC on June 24. The satellite will be owned and operated by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA M joins the Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) constellation which consists of two POES satellites circling the planet in nearly north-south orbits. The polar-orbiting spacecraft serve as complementary satellites to the geosynchronous Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) system. NOAA M will operate in a circular, near-polar orbit at an altitude of 833 km (450 nmi), with an inclination angle of 98.7465 degrees to the equator. The US$202 million NOAA M will be renamed NOAA 17 after it successfully reaches orbit, replacing four-year old NOAA 15.

Lockheed Martin built both the launch vehicle and the spacecraft. The spacecraft mass at launch is 2232 kg (4919 lbm), having an operational mass of 1479 kg (3260 lbm). The spacecraft has a minimum 2 year design life.

The instruments onboard the satellite include the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR/3), the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS/3), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A1, A2), the AMSU-B, the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer (SBUV/2), the Space Environment Monitor (SEM/2) and the Data Collection System (DCS/2). The AVHRR/3 is the primary imaging system, which consists of visible, near infrared (IR) and thermal IR channels. The primary sounding suite is the HIRS/3, AMSU-A and AMSU-B, which measures atmospheric temperature and humidity. The SBUV/2 instrument is both an imager and a sounder. As an imager, it produces total column ozone maps. As a sounder, it obtains and measures the ozone distribution in the atmosphere as a function of altitude.

In addition to weather survey instruments, NOAA M carries search and rescue instruments 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 13,000 lives since the inception of the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system.

Following an on-orbit testing period that will last 45 days, NASA will turn operational control of the satellites over to NOAA. NOAA will operate the satellites from the Satellite Operations Control Center in Suitland, Md.

Only two more Titan 2 rockets remain to be launched. In October, DMSP 16, a military weather satellite, is scheduled for launch, the Coriolis ocean wind research spacecraft is scheduled for January 2003. One additional Titan 2 has been modified to carry a satellite, but has never been assigned a payload.

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June 24, 2002