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- NOAA 15, also known as NOAA-K before launch, was an operational, polar orbiting, meteorological satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It was the latest in the Advanced TIROS-N (ATN) series and the design was based on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). Launched by the Titan II rocket from Vandenberg AFB, NOAA-K replaced the decommissioned NOAA 12 in an afternoon equator-crossing orbit. It provided support to environmental monitoring by complementing the NOAA/NESS geostationary meteorological satellite program (GOES). Instruments were flown for imaging and measurement of the Earth's atmosphere, its surface, and cloud cover, including Earth radiation, atmospheric ozone, aerosol distribution, sea surface temperature, vertical temperature and water profiles in the troposphere and stratosphere; measurement of proton and electron flux at orbit altitude, and remote platform data collection, and for SARSAT. They included (1) an improved six-channel Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer/3 (AVHRR/3); (2) an improved High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS/3); (3) the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking System (S&R), which consists of the Search and Rescure Repeater (SARR) and the Search and Rescue Processor (SARP-2); (4) the French/CNES-provided improved ARGOS Data Collection System (DCS-2); and (5) the Advanced Microwave Sounding Units (AMSUs), which replaced the previous MSU and SSU instruments to become the first in the NOAA series to support dedicated microwave measurements of temperature, moisture, surface and hydrological studies in cloudy regions where visible and infrared instruments have decreased capability. Additional Information: http://www2.ncdc.noaa.gov/docs/intro.htm To view a 3D orbit, observe the J track satellite tracking web page: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/JTrack/
NOAA-K CHARACTERISTICS Main Body: 4.2m long, 1.88m diameter Solar Array: 2.73 by 6.14 m Weight: At liftoff 2231.7 kg (includes 756.7 kg of expendable fuel) Lifetime: Greater than 2 years Load Power Requirements: 833 Watts for 0 degree sun angle 750 Watts for 80 degree sun angle Orbital Characteristics- Orbital Period: 101.20 m Inclination: 98.70 degrees Periapsis: 808.00 km Apoapsis: 824.00 km Information was adopted from NSSDC Master Catalog and the J Track Liftoff web pages. Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: NOAA-15 Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Earth Observation Satellites Platform_Series_or_Entity: NOAA POES (Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites) Short_Name: NOAA-15 Long_Name: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-15 End_Group Group: Platform_Associated_Instruments Short_Name: AMSU-B Short_Name: AMSU-A End_Group Group: Orbit Orbit_Altitude: 807 km Orbit_Inclination: 98.5 deg Period: 101.1 End_Group Creation_Date: 2007-11-07 Online_Resource: http://www.oso.noaa.gov/poesstatus/spacecraftStatusSummary.asp?spacecraft=15 Group: Platform_Logistics Launch_Date: 1998-05-13 Primary_Sponsor: NASA End_Group End_Group
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