Feb. 3, 2009 -- The latest U.S. weather satellite, dubbed NOAA-N Prime, can do more than just keep an eye out for storms. It has a device that can turn on transmitters while soaring overhead to collect their sensor data.
The transmitters can be anywhere, and it doesn't matter if they move. In fact, some researchers count on their mobility. They plan to use the satellite to monitor migratory paths of birds, whales and other animals that have been tagged with transmitters.
"We're interested in how the animals use their habitats and what are their migratory routes and destinations," said Alex Zerbini, who oversees NOAA's satellite tagging program on large whales. "We study animals in remote locations where the access for human beings is very difficult."
Other researchers use the system to monitor ocean temperatures and currents, via transmitters on buoys, and get information about the atmosphere from transmitters on weather balloons.
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NOAA has been putting the data collection instrument on its polar-orbiting weather satellites for about 10 years, but its new spacecraft, scheduled for launch on Wednesday, is the first to have two-way communications.
"There's been a lot of problems with (transmitter) maintenance," said Mary Walker, with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Manager in Greenbelt, Md., which oversees the spacecraft development for NOAA.
"Now when the satellite isn't above, the transmitters can be shut down. The satellite can turn them on," Walker told Discovery News.
NOAA-N Prime also has an enhanced instrument for search-and-rescue, part of an international system designed to detect and locate emergency location transmission signals. The system has been operational since 1982.
NASA, which is responsible for launch operations, is preparing to launch the satellite at 5:22 A.M. EST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Its primary mission is to collect environmental information used by meteorologists to forecast the weather and for scientists to monitor global trends.
The spacecraft was badly damaged when it fell onto the floor at its manufacturing plant in 2003. About 75 percent of the satellite had to be rebuilt.
"It's pretty much a new satellite," said Michael Mignogno, program manager of NOAA's Polar Operational Environmental Satellites.
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