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The NOAA POES System in Weather Forecasting
The POES spacecraft serve as complementary satellites to the
geosynchronous Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)
system. Where the GOES satellites provide near-term data from the
continental United States and Hawaii to NOAA's forecasters, the
polar-orbiting spacecraft provide full global data for short-, medium-,
and long-range forecast models, climate modeling, environmental studies
and various other secondary missions.
The Future of the POES Program
Two more POES satellites will be launched after NOAA-M, NOAA-N and
NOAA-N'. They have planning launch dates of June 2004 and March 2008,
respectively, and will both be operated in afternoon orbits. Under an
agreement with NOAA, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of
Meteorological Satellites will begin operating polar-orbiting satellites
known as Metop in 2005 and will assume responsibility for the morning
orbit. The Metop satellites will carry both US-provided and
European-developed instruments. The data from these satellites will be
made available to NOAA as part of the agreement.
A new generation of environmental satellites called the National
Polar Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) will become
operational after the POES satellites complete their mission. NPOESS is
a tri-agency (NOAA, Department of Defense, NASA) program. NPOESS will
provide more capable sensors for improved data collection and better
weather forecasts.
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NOAA-M
Introduction
The NASA-NOAA Partnership
Spacecraft Design and Orbit Command
The NOAA POES System in Weather Forecasting and the Future
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