SUNNYVALE, Calif, November 05, 2008 — The NOAA-N Prime spacecraft, a Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES), has been delivered to Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., in preparation for a February 4, 2009 launch. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Sunnyvale built NOAA-N Prime.
NOAA-N Prime is the latest in the Advanced TIROS-N (ATN) satellite series. All have been designed and built for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by Lockheed Martin since the first Television and Infrared Observational Satellite (TIROS) weather satellite launch in April 1960. Most of the spacecraft in the series have operated far longer than originally expected, earning them a reputation as the workhorses of the civil space Earth-imaging inventory