QuikSCAT

QuikSCAT

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. 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.

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.