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NOAA-16

NOAA-16
NOAA-L satellite tilted in Vandenberg AFB clean room.jpg
NOAA-16 before launch
Mission type Weather satellite
Operator NOAA
COSPAR ID 2000-055A
SATCAT № 26536
Mission duration 2 years planned
14 years achieved
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type TIROS-N
Manufacturer Lockheed Martin
Launch mass 1,457 kilograms (3,212 lb)
Power 830 watts
Start of mission
Launch date 21 September 2000, 10:22 (2000-09-21UTC10:22Z) UTC
Rocket Titan II(23)G Star-37XFP-ISS
Launch site Vandenberg SLC-4W
End of mission
Disposal Decommissioned
Deactivated 9 June 2014 (2014-06-10)
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Sun-synchronous
Semi-major axis 7,226.86 kilometers (4,490.56 mi)
Eccentricity 0.0009525
Perigee 848 kilometers (527 mi)
Apogee 862 kilometers (536 mi)
Inclination 98.96 degrees
Period 101.91 minutes
Epoch 24 January 2015, 11:59:04 UTC

NOAA-16, designated NOAA-L before launch, is one of the NASA-provided TIROS series of weather forecasting satellites operated by NOAA.

It was launched on 21 September 2000, in a sun-synchronous orbit, 849 km above the Earth, orbiting every 102 minutes. It hosts the AMSU, AVHRR and High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) instruments' APT transmitter. NOAA-16 has the same suite of instruments as carried by NOAA-15 plus an SBUV/2 instrument as well.

NOAA-16's APT has been inoperable due to sensor degradation since November 15, 2000, and High Resolution Picture Transmission has been via STX-1 (1698 MHz) since November 9, 2010.

NOAA-16 was decommissioned on 9 June 2014 after a critical anomaly. On 25 November 2015, at 08:16, the JSpOC identified a possible breakup of NOAA 16 (#26536). All associated objects have been added to conjunction assessment screenings, and satellite operators will be notified of close approaches between the debris and active satellites. The JSpOC catalogs the debris objects when sufficient data is available. As of 26 March 2016, 275 pieces of debris were being tracked.



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