NOAA-13 (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) Weather Satellite: Objective: To continue the Advanced TIROS-N program by working as a companion with NOAA-10, 11 and 12 in order to provide continuous coverage of the Earth and to provide high-resolution global meteorological data. Description: The spacecraft was launched on August 9, 1993 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on board the Atlas E. The spacecraft was rectangularly shaped (166" long by 74" high) and powered by a 191" by 94" solar array. The satellite was Earth oriented, three-axis stabilized and weighed approximately 2200 pounds. NOAA-13 was the sixth operational satellite in the Advanced TIROS-N series. The satellite carried the AVHRR, TOVS, and the solar proton monitor. All of which were present on previous NOAA satellites. The ERBE instruments, the SBUV radiometer and the SARSAT systems were also flown on this satellite. NOAA-13 was placed in a near circular, (470nm) polar orbit. The spacecraft and its systems operated successfully for 12 days until a circuit failure resulted in a power loss aboard the craft. At this time the spacecraft is still in its polar orbit; however, no data is being received. Specifications: Prime contractor: GE Astro Platform: evolved from NOAA 2nd generation Mass at launch: 1420 kg Mass in orbit: ~1050 kg Dimension: 4.18 m long x 1.88 m diameter Stabilization: 3-axis Design lifetime: 3 years APT downlink freq: 137.620 MHz (standby) HRPT downlink freq: 1698.0 MHz Beacon: 136.770 MHz Payload: AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer: Wavebands: 0.58-0.68 µm (visible): cloud, snow and ice monitoring 0.725-1.10 µm (near IR): water, vegetation and agriculture surveys 3.55-3.93 µm (near IR): sea surface temperature, volcano, forest fire activity 10.3-11.3 µm (thermal IR): sea surface temperature, soil moisture 11.3-12.5 µm (thermal IR): sea surface temperature, soil moisture Resolution: 1.1 km Swath width: 3000 km TOVS (Tiros Operational Vertical Sounder): HIRS/2 (High Resolution IR Sounder): 20 channels in the 0.69 - 14 - 95 µm band; 17.4 km resolution SSU (Stratospheric Sounding Unit): step-scanned far IR spectrometer with 3 channels in the CO² absorption band (15 µm);147.3 km resolution MSU (Microwave Sounding Unit): passive 4-channel radiometer operating around 55 GHz; 109 km resolution PARTICIPANTS: NASA, USAF, ITT, Martin Marietta AstroSpace, Ball Aerospace, Marconi, JPL, Loral, NOAA, National Weather Service. [Summary provided by NOAA and The Satellite Encyclopedia] Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: NOAA-13 Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Earth Observation Satellites Platform_Series_or_Entity: NOAA POES (Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites) Short_Name: NOAA-13 Long_Name: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-13 End_Group Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names Short_Name: ATLES E End_Group Group: Platform_Associated_Instruments Short_Name: TOVS Short_Name: HIRS/2 Short_Name: MSU Short_Name: SSU End_Group Group: Orbit Period: 12 days End_Group Creation_Date: 2007-11-05 Online_Resource: http://www2.ncdc.noaa.gov/docs/podug/html/c1/sec1-49.htm Sample_Image: http://www2.ncdc.noaa.gov/docs/podug/images/guide/f149-3.gif Group: Platform_Logistics Launch_Date: 1993-08-09 Launch_Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA Design_Life: 3-years Primary_Sponsor: NASA End_Group End_Group
NOAA-13
Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES)