NASA will launch the NOAA-N weather/atmospheric scanning satellite at 2:22 a.m. PT Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., atop a Delta II rocket supplied by United Launch Alliance (ULA).
ULA is a joint venture of The Boeing Co. [BA] and Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT]. Deltas are a traditionally Boeing-derived class of lifters.
The flight readiness review for the Delta II and NOAA-N Prime spacecraft was successfully completed Thursday, with a countdown dress rehearsal conducted the following day. There are no issues or concerns to prevent final launch preparations, including loading the Delta II second stage with hypergolic propellants that was finished Saturday, NASA announced.
The launch readiness review is being conducted today to assure all is ready to start the launch countdown operations. The NOAA-N Prime polar orbiting weather satellite is enclosed in the Delta II payload fairing and is ready for launch.
Weather Wednesday is predicted to be generally favorable for launch, but becoming less favorable the following day due to an approaching low pressure system.
NOAA-N Prime is the latest satellite in the Advanced Television Infrared Observational Satellites (ATN) -N series built by Lockheed Space Systems Co. NOAA-N Prime will provide a polar-orbiting platform to support environmental monitoring instruments for imaging and measuring the Earth’s atmosphere, its surface and cloud cover, including Earth radiation, atmospheric ozone, aerosol distribution, sea surface temperature, and vertical temperature and water profiles in the troposphere and stratosphere.
The satellite will assist in measuring proton and electron fluxes at orbit altitude, collecting data from remote platforms and will assist the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking system.