NOAA's Real-Time Response

The Decommissioning of NOAA-17 After a Decade of Weather
and Climate Observations

  • +NOAA-17 Launch

    The NOAA 17 (M) is a member of the fourth-generation of NOAA's polar-orbiting, operational, environmental satellites (POES) (NOAA K-N) managed by the NESDIS. The satellite was launched into Earth's orbit on June 24, 2002, from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a Titan II rocket. Vandenberg Air Force Base is the headquarters for the 30th Space Wing, which provides the platform for placing satellites into polar orbit from the West Coast

  • +SuperTyphoon-Manyi, July 2, 2007

    Super Typhoon Man-Yi moves off the coast of Taiwan.
    Super Typhoon Man-Yi moved across areas of the western Pacific July 11-17, 2007. NOAA -17 captured this 1km visible image in high detail asthe storm swept northward over the western Pacific toward the southern end of the islands of Japan. After becoming a super typhoon west of the area, Man-Yi made a turn northeastward and weakened, dropping below typhoon strength while passing near the south coast of Japan.

  • +HurricaneBonnie-July 23 2010

    Hurricane Bonnie off the coast of Florida
    As Tropical Storm Bonnie-moved along the coast of Florida, July 23, 2010, the quality of the data coming from NOAA-17's AVHRR instrument had begun to degrade, visible in the left-hand side of the image. Operational polar-orbiting satellites have an estimated lifespan of 3 years before data degradation is expected. NOAA maintains backup satellites in both the morning and afternoon orbits to prevent any potential data loss from impacting operational weather forecasts.

  • +Super Typhoon Bopha about to make landfall on the Philippines Island of Mindana, December 3, 2012.

    Super Typhoon Bopha about to make landfall on the Philippines Island of Mindana, December 3, 2012.
    The Suomi NPP satellite, launched 10 years after NOAA-17, along with the JPSS satellite series will greatly advance the capabilities of the predecessor polar-orbiting satellites such as NOAA-17. For example, the VIIRS sensor has twice the spatial and spectral resolution of the AVHRR sensor on NOAA-17, meaning that more data can be collected and at higher quality. Compare the life-like quality of this image of Super Typhoon Bopha on December 4, 2012 with the previous image of Super Typhoon Man-Yi.

On March 20, NOAA plans to decommission NOAA-17, one of its Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES). Known as NOAA M in development, NOAA-17 was launched June 24, 2002. Since launch, NOAA-17 has orbited the Earth approximately 55,000 times. NOAA-17 was a back-up satellite to the Metop-A satellite, whose data NOAA uses operationally as part of the Joint Polar System agreement with the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). While NOAA-17's planned operational life was 3 years, it has soldiered on for over a decade, providing data critical for long-term weather forecast models, climate, and environmental observations. Degrading flight control capabilities and instruments dictated the decision to decommission the satellite this spring. These images show some of the highlights of NOAA-17's career.