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NOAA-L WEATHER SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED NOAA-16 SENDS FIRST IMAGE
Controllers successfully verified deployment of the solar array and a power positive condition on the satellite. NOAA-L is the second in a series of five polar-orbiting satellites with improved imaging and sounding capabilities that will operate over the next twelve years. "We're extremely pleased with the success of the launch, and look forward to a successful mission for NOAA-L," said Mike Mignogno, NOAA's polar-orbiting operational environmental satellite manager. Like other NOAA satellites, NOAA-L will collect meteorological data and transmit the information to users around the world to enhance weather forecasting. In the United States, the data will be used primarily by NOAA's National Weather Service for its long-range weather and climate forecasts. NOAA-L was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., and launched for NOAA under technical guidance and project management by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA will turn operational control of the NOAA-L spacecraft over to NOAA 10 days after launch. NASA's comprehensive on-orbit verification period is expected to last until approximately 45 days after launch.
The image is the first visible
image received at NOAA's Satellite Operations Control Center
in Suitland, Md., from NOAA-16 via High Resolution Picture Transmission
(HRPT). The white area in the upper right is Greenland.
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September 21, 2000 — A
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