[Satellite Today 11-06-08] Lockheed Martin Space Systems’ NOAA-N Prime spacecraft, a polar operational environmental satellite, has been delivered to Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., in preparation for a Feb. 4, 2009 launch, Lockheed Martin announced Nov. 6.
    The NOAA-N Prime is the latest in the advanced Television and Infrared Observational Satellite (TIROS-N) satellite series, designed and built for NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by Lockheed Martin since the first TIROS weather satellite launch in April 1960.
    Lockheed Martin said that most of the civil space Earth-imaging spacecraft in the series have operated far longer than originally expected.
    The NOAA-N Prime sun-synchronous satellite will operate in a circular, near-polar orbit of 450 nautical miles above the Earth with an inclination angle of 98.7465 degrees to the equator. Its orbital period, which is the time it takes to complete one orbit of the Earth, will be approximately 101.35 minutes.
    NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., is responsible for the procurement, development, launch services, and verification testing of the spacecraft, instruments, and unique ground equipment. Following deployment of the spacecraft from the launch vehicle, Goddard is responsible for initial in-orbit satellite checkout and evaluation.
    Following the launch and a comprehensive on-orbit verification period that lasts 45 days, NASA will turn operational control of the satellite over to NOAA. NOAA will operate the satellite from the satellite operations control center in Suitland, Md.