![]() QuikSCAT | |
Organization | JPL, NASA |
---|---|
Mission Type | Earth observation |
Contractor | Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. |
Satellite of | Earth |
Launch | June 19, 1999 on a Titan II |
Launch site | Vandenberg Air Force Base |
Mission duration | 2–3 years |
Mass | 971 kg (launch) |
Webpage | winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/ Archived 2007-08-20 at the Wayback Machine |
Orbital elements | |
Semimajor Axis | 7180.8 km |
Eccentricity | 0.00014 |
Inclination | 98.6 degrees |
Orbital Period | 100.93 minutes |
Right ascension of the ascending node | 178.47 degrees |
Argument of perigee | 47.4 degrees |
Instruments | |
SeaWinds | microwave radar that measures near-surface wind speed and direction |
The QuikSCAT (Quick Scatterometer) is an earth-observing satellite that provides wind speed and direction information over oceans to NOAA. It is a "quick recovery" mission to fill the gap created by the loss of data from the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) that was lost in June 1997. It is in a sun-synchronous low-earth orbit.
Because of the 2003 failure of the ADEOS II satellite that was meant to succeed the NSCAT, QuickSCAT is currently the only US-owned instrument in orbit that measures surface winds over the oceans.[1] The European Space Agency has its own scatterometers in orbit, such as Envisat.
However, because it is now running on a backup transmitter and having other problems, this satellite could fail at any moment, putting risk at weather forecasts for possibly dangerous tropical cyclones.[2]
In early June 2007, Bill Proenza, Director of the National Hurricane Center in Florida, came under fire for criticizing his NOAA superiors for not creating a back-up plan for replacing the capabilities provided by this satellite.[3]