Military Weather Satellite Completes In-orbit Checkout

A recently launched weather satellite has passed its in-orbit checkout phase and has been declared operational and ready for use. The spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] under the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), was launched Oct. 18 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on a Lockheed Martin- supplied Titan II launch vehicle.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s (NOAA) Space Operations Control Center (SOCC) in Suitland, Md., successfully completed checkout of the spacecraft and instruments during the past 30 days. The satellite now can be used for strategic and tactical weather forecasting to aid the U.S. military in planning operations at sea, on land and in the air. Equipped with a sophisticated sensor suite that can create visible and infrared images of cloud cover, the satellite collects specialized meteorological, oceanographic and solar-geophysical information in all weather conditions.

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