US Legacy Weather Satellites Being Decommissioned
/The remaining older satellites in a constellation identified earlier this year as being in end-of-life status, are now being decommissioned by the US government.
As the US government had announced previously, the remaining satellites in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's legacy constellation of Polar Operational Environmental Studies are in the process of being decommissioned. The POES system satellite known as NOAA-15 was to be taken out of service on the 12th of August and another, NOAA-19, on the 19th of the month. Earlier this year, both were declared in the End of Life stage, along with a third constellation satellite, NOAA-18, which was decommissioned in June. For years, these satellites were relied upon by many for vital weather data via their 137 MHz APT transmissions, providing data used in monitoring the environment, forest fires, volcanic eruptions and global vegetation.
“Direct users should make plans to discontinue use of POES data.”
Although previous reports said that the satellites' transmissions would continue, an article on the RTL-SDR website said that the transmitters will be turned off. The end-of-life status means they are no longer eligible for repair or recovery efforts and NOAA advises that they should not be considered reliable sources of information for critical or emergency purposes. None of the satellites are scheduled for deorbiting.
