The 2232 kg (4919 lbm) satellite is the latest in the series of advanced TIROS-N spacecraft that provide a platform to support the environmental monitoring instruments for imaging and measuring the Earth's atmosphere, its surface and cloud cover. The spacecraft is the second in a series of five Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) to be built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, CA. The operational system consists of two polar-orbiting satellites. The polar-orbiting spacecraft serve as complementary satellites to the geosynchronous Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) system. NOAA M also provides a platform for the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system, part of the COSPAS-SARSAT constellation. The Search and Rescue satellites (SARSAT/COSPAR) have been instrumental in saving more than 13,000 lives since the inception of the system.

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 the weather instruments, the satellite carries two search and rescue instruments, the Search and Rescue Repeater (SARR) and the Search and Rescue Processor (SARP).