NOAA-L weather satellite launch delayed

Cynthia M. O’Carroll
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301-614-5563)
 
NASA Vandenberg Resident Office
(Phone: 805-605-3051)
 
Patricia Viets
NOAA NESDIS
(Phone: 301-457-5005)
 
RELEASE NO: 00-115
 

The launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-L, scheduled for Sept. 20, has been delayed due to a computer abort which detected a possible malfunction in ground equipment. As a result, it was necessary for the launch team to verify the anomaly, which they were unable to do by the end of the launch window.
 
A technical team is assessing the issue and working toward another attempt to launch no earlier than Sept. 21 at 3:22 a.m. PDT (6:22 a.m. EDT). The launch window extends for approximately 10 minutes.
 
The NOAA-L satellite was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., and will be launched for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under technical guidance and project
management by the Goddard Space Flight Center.
 
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.
 
Data from the NOAA spacecraft are also 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. In addition these data are helping NASA scientists design instruments for follow-on missions.
 
For more information about NOAA-L and the polar orbiting satellites, see the following web sites:
 
    http://poes.gsfc.nasa.gov
 
    http://www2.ncdc.noaa.gov/docs/intro.htm
 
    http://www.osd.noaa.gov/sats/poes.htm