NOAA-16 Sends First Image

NOAA
 
Media Contacts:
 
Patricia Viets, NOAA Satellite Service
(301) 457-5005
 
Cynthia O’Carroll, NASA/GSFC
(301) 614-5563
 

An image from the country’s newest environmental satellite is available online. The image is from NOAA-16, which was launched this morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., and named NOAA-L before 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.
 
Like other NOAA satellites, NOAA-16 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-16 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-16 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.
 
For more information about NOAA-16 and the polar orbiting satellites, see
 
    http://poes.gsfc.nasa.gov
 
              and
 
    http://www.osd.noaa.gov
 
IMAGE CAPTIONS:
 
[Image 1:
http://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/earth/pictures/noaal/firstpic092100.jpg ] NOAA-16 First Image
 
[Image 2:
http://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/EARTH/PICTURES/noaal/092100piceastcoast.jpg] NOAA-16 East Coast Image