Uploaded November 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
On Nov. 10, just before 2 a.m. Pacific time, an Atlas V 401 rocket carrying NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2), the third in a series of five advanced polar-orbiting satellites, launched from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The rocket’s secondary payload was NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID, a demonstration of an experimental inflatable heat shield technology that could one day help land humans on Mars.
On Nov. 16, the JPSS-2 satellite officially reached polar orbit and was renamed NOAA-21. Working together with its sister satellites, Suomi NPP and NOAA-20, the satellites will each orbit the earth 14 times a day, providing a continuous stream of data used for weather forecasting and helping to track and monitor climate change.
Once JPSS-2/NOAA-21 is fully commissioned and operational, it will fly roughly 50 minutes, or half an orbit, ahead of NOAA-20. Suomi NPP will orbit between the two, about 25 minutes away from each. NOAA-21 will become the primary satellite, NOAA-20 will become the backup satellite, and Suomi-NPP will become the third satellite in the JPSS constellation.
Learn more:
nesdis.noaa.gov/news/jpss-2-launches-space
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Credits:
NOAA
NASA
CIRA
Launch footage courtesy of United Launch Alliance (ULA).
Music:
“Depths Unseen,” by Grant Fisher [PRS]; Freshworx; Universal Music Production
On Nov. 10, just before 2 a.m. Pacific time, an Atlas V 401 rocket carrying NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2), the third in a series of five advanced polar-orbiting satellites, launched from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The rocket’s secondary payload was NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID, a demonstration of an experimental inflatable heat shield technology that could one day help land humans on Mars.
On Nov. 16, the JPSS-2 satellite officially reached polar orbit and was renamed NOAA-21. Working together with its sister satellites, Suomi NPP and NOAA-20, the satellites will each orbit the earth 14 times a day, providing a continuous stream of data used for weather forecasting and helping to track and monitor climate change.
Once JPSS-2/NOAA-21 is fully commissioned and operational, it will fly roughly 50 minutes, or half an orbit, ahead of NOAA-20. Suomi NPP will orbit between the two, about 25 minutes away from each. NOAA-21 will become the primary satellite, NOAA-20 will become the backup satellite, and Suomi-NPP will become the third satellite in the JPSS constellation.
Learn more:
nesdis.noaa.gov/news/jpss-2-launches-space
*
*
Credits:
NOAA
NASA
CIRA
Launch footage courtesy of United Launch Alliance (ULA).
Music:
“Depths Unseen,” by Grant Fisher [PRS]; Freshworx; Universal Music Production
