Tag: NOAA
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Polar-orbiting weather satellite joined up with Delta 2 rocket in California
File photo of the Delta 2 rocket’s second stage lifted atop the launcher. Credit: NASA/NOAA The first in NOAA’s new series of polar-orbiting weather satellites has been lifted atop United Launch Alliance’s second-to-last Delta 2 rocket on a launch pad in California, ready for encapsulation and final checkouts ahead of a predawn launch set for…
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Suomi NPP sees Hurricane Maria’s startling effect on Puerto Rico power grid
These side-by-side, before-and-after images of Puerto Rico show the effect of Hurricane Maria on the island’s electrical grid. Credit: NOAA A scanning instrument aboard NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite sensitive to city lights, wildfires and volcanic eruptions has returned views of Puerto Rico before and after the passage of Hurricane Maria, showing the island’s electrical grid…
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Next-generation weather satellite shipped to launch base in California
Technicians perform final checks on JPSS 1 in the cleanroom prior to shipment to Vandenberg. Credit: Ball Aerospace A new weather observatory that will track storms across the globe as it orbits from pole to pole has been trucked to its launch site in California for a long-awaited ascent into space this November. The first…
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Orbital imagery shows Harvey’s path toward Texas
Videos and photos from satellites and the crew aboard the International Space Station showed Hurricane Harvey bearing down on the Texas coast this weekend. The storm made landfall Friday night near Rockport, Texas, as a strong Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph. Harvey has since weakened to a tropical storm, but…
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NASA enlists citizen scientists to widen its view of totality during solar eclipse
The sun’s corona gleams during a total solar eclipse seen from the northern tip of Australia in November 2012. (Credit: Romeo Durscher via NASA) Scientists are gearing up to gather data from the solar eclipse on Aug. 21, but the most crucial observations can be made during only two minutes of totality — unless they…
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It’s T-minus-2 months to solar eclipse: Officials brace for totality traffic jams
The moon’s shadow cones during a total solar eclipse. Observers on Earthwithin the smaller, central shadow, or umbra, see a total eclipse. Within the larger shadow, thepenumbra, observers see a partial eclipse. Credit: NASA The all-American total solar eclipse is still two months away, but federal and state agencies are already getting the word out…
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Lightning mapper beams back first views from space
A sensitive infrared camera mounted on NOAA’s new GOES-16 weather satellite has captured its first astounding images of lightning flashes from a perch more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) out in space. The first-of-its-kind imager can detect in-cloud, cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, giving weather forecasters an inventory of the location, frequency and intensity…
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America’s newest weather satellite sends glorious pictures of Earth (and the moon)
This composite color full-disk image from GOES-16, focusing on North and South America, was acquired at 10:07 a.m. PT on Jan. 15. (NOAA / NASA Photo) Two months after its launch, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES-16 weather satellite is sending back its first images – and they’re spectacular. GOES-16 is watching the Western Hemisphere…
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Photos: America’s 100th EELV blasts off
The 100th flight of America’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program — a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket — departed Cape Canaveral on Saturday evening carrying the most advanced U.S. weather satellite ever made. Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Scriptunas Images See earlier GOES-R coverage. Our Atlas archive.
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Cygnus cargo freighter leaves station, but its mission is not over
A commercial Cygnus supply ship left the International Space Station on Monday after delivering more than 5,000 pounds of cargo and experiments, ready to start a week of standalone operations to include a groundbreaking microgravity fire experiment and deployment of four commercial weather-monitoring CubeSats in orbit. The Orbital ATK-owned spacecraft was released from the station’s…