CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MISSION SUMMARY - NOAA-15 -
Full Name National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - 15 Status Mission complete
Mission Agencies NOAA Launch Date 13 May 1998
Mission Links mission site EOL Date 14 Apr 2018
EO Portal Info NORAD Catalog # 25338 (TLE)
International Designator 1998-030A
Orbit Type Sun-synchronous Orbit Period 101.4 minutes
Orbit Sense Descending Orbit Inclination 98.6 deg
Orbit Altitude 813 km Orbit Longitude
Orbit LST 7:08 Repeat Cycle
Objectives and Applications Meteorology, agriculture and forestry, environmental monitoring, climatology, physical oceanography, volcanic eruption monitoring, ice and snow cover, total ozone studies, space environment, solar flux analysis, search and rescue. NOAA-15 is being used on a limited basis as a "secondary morning orbit" satellite. The EOL date is based on a reliability and health & status analysis; the date shown is at the 60% confidence level.
Mission Measurements
CategoryParameterInstrument(s)
AtmosphereAerosols AVHRR/3
Atmospheric Humidity Fields AMSU-A, AMSU-B, ATOVS (HIRS/3 + AMSU + AVHRR/3), HIRS/3
Atmospheric Winds AMSU-B
Cloud type, amount and cloud top temperature AMSU-A, AMSU-B, ATOVS (HIRS/3 + AMSU + AVHRR/3), AVHRR/3, HIRS/3
Cloud particle properties and profile AMSU-A, AMSU-B, HIRS/3
Liquid water and precipitation rate AMSU-A, AMSU-B, ATOVS (HIRS/3 + AMSU + AVHRR/3), AVHRR/3
Ozone ATOVS (HIRS/3 + AMSU + AVHRR/3), HIRS/3
Radiation budget AMSU-A, AVHRR/3, HIRS/3
Trace gases (excluding ozone) ATOVS (HIRS/3 + AMSU + AVHRR/3), HIRS/3
Atmospheric Temperature Fields AMSU-A, ATOVS (HIRS/3 + AMSU + AVHRR/3), HIRS/3
LandAlbedo and reflectance AVHRR/3
Soil moisture AMSU-A
Vegetation AVHRR/3
Surface temperature (land) AMSU-A, AVHRR/3, HIRS/3
Multi-purpose imagery (land) AVHRR/3
OceanOcean surface winds AMSU-A
Surface temperature (ocean) AVHRR/3, HIRS/3
Multi-purpose imagery (ocean) AVHRR/3
Snow & IceSnow cover, edge and depth AMSU-A, AMSU-B, AVHRR/3
Sea ice cover, edge and thickness AMSU-A, AMSU-B, AVHRR/3
Mission Instruments
A-DCS3 - Argos Advanced Data Collection System3
AMSU-A - Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A
AMSU-B - Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B
ATOVS (HIRS/3 + AMSU + AVHRR/3) - Advanced TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder
AVHRR/3 - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer/3
HIRS/3 - High Resolution Infra-red Sounder/3
NOAA Comms - Communications package for NOAA
S&R (NOAA) - Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking
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