The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is set to launch the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) on May 11 at 6:22 a.m. EDT from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The satellite, currently designated NOAA-N, will replace NOAA-16, which has been in operation since September 2000. Once it reaches orbit, NOAA-N will be renamed NOAA-18 and will work in tandem with NOAA-17, which was launched in June 2002.

NOAA maintains a constellation of two primary polar-orbiting satellites, which produce data used in NOAA’s weather and climate prediction models. NOAA-N will collect data about Earth’s surface and atmosphere for NOAA’s long-range climate and seasonal outlooks, including forecasts for El Nino and La Nina.

NOAA also has instruments used in the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System, known as COSPAS-SARSAT. The satellites detect emergency beacon distress signals and relay their location to ground stations.

Boeing also scheduled the launch of the first of three next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-N) for NOAA for June 23, with a launch window extending to June 25. The specific time of the launch was not released, but Boeing said it would take place in the early evening from Pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a Delta 4 rocket. It will be the first NASA mission for Delta 4. NASA builds the satellites and then turns them over to NOAA for operations.

GOES-N satellite will provide more accurate prediction and tracking of severe storms and other weather phenomena, resulting in earlier and more precise warnings to the public, Boeing said.