NOAA-17, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on June 24, will improve weather and climate forecasting and monitor environmental events around the world. It is the third in a series of five polar-orbiting satellites with improved imaging and sounding capabilities that will operate over the next 10 years.

NOAA and NASA report that all post-launch spacecraft subsystem and instrument deployments were successful. All instruments have been turned on and detailed analysis of data from the entire spacecraft continues, with no major anomalies identified.

The on-orbit verification testing primarily focused on instrument calibration will continue through approximately 45 days after launch. About 30 days after that, the satellite will be declared operational.

"The NOAA-17 satellite is working beautifully," said Karen Halterman, NASA's project manager for the polar-orbiting operational environmental satellite program.

"We're extremely pleased with the success of the verification process, and look forward to a successful mission for NOAA-17," said Mike Mignogno, NOAA's polar program manager. "This success is due to the professionalism of a large team of NASA, NOAA and contractor personnel."

"The primary contractors are Lockheed Martin, ITT, Aerojet, Ball Aerospace, Panametrics and L3 Communications," Halterman said.

"We also have international partners from the U.K., France and Canada. All are to be congratulated for their significant contributions in achieving our joint goal of success for the NOAA-17 mission."

NASA and NOAA engineers performed a series of over 100 on-orbit verification tests since the launch to establish a satellite performance baseline designed to characterize all aspects of instrument and spacecraft operation.

The resulting information provides NOAA with a database to support product development and performance monitoring during the operational phase of the mission.

This same data provides NASA with valuable insight into overall spacecraft subsystem and instrument interaction, so that enhancements and/or ground test modifications may be applied, if appropriate, to later satellites, NOAA-N, and N Prime.

The direct broadcast of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer instrument data is providing imagery to scientific, commercial and educational groups throughout the world.

Once NOAA-17 is fully operational, the search and rescue instruments will continue to support a global community that has established ground stations that "listen" for distress beacons relayed through the NOAA polar and Russian COSPAS satellites.

For more than 40 years, NASA and NOAA have worked jointly to perfect, develop and continue the polar-orbiting program. Goddard engineers are responsible for the construction, integration, launch and verification testing of the spacecraft, instruments and unique ground equipment.

NOAA is responsible for program funding and the on-orbit operation of the multi-satellite system. NOAA also determines the need for satellite replacement. NOAA designs, develops, installs and integrates the ground system needed to acquire, process and disseminate the data from the sensors on the satellites.

Data from the NOAA spacecraft are used by researchers within NASA's Earth Science Enterprise a long-term research program designed to study Earth's land, oceans atmosphere, ice and life as a total integrated system.

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