What is the QuikSCAT satellite?
Q: What is the QuikSCAT satellite?
A: The QuikSCAT (Quick Scatterometer) is an earth-observing satellite that provides wind speed and direction information over oceans to NOAA.
Q: Why was the QuikSCAT mission created?
A: It was created to fill the gap created by the loss of data from the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) that was lost in June 1997.
Q: What kind of orbit is the QuikSCAT in?
A: The QuikSCAT is in a sun-synchronous low-earth orbit.
Q: Why is the QuikSCAT currently important?
A: 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.
Q: What is Envisat?
A: Envisat is a scatterometer owned by the European Space Agency that is also in orbit.
Q: What is the issue with Envisat as of the time of the text?
A: As of the time of the text, Envisat was running on a backup transmitter and having other problems, and could fail at any moment, putting risk at weather forecasts for possibly dangerous tropical cyclones.
Q: Why did Bill Proenza, Director of the National Hurricane Center in Florida, come under fire in early June 2007?
A: He criticized his NOAA superiors for not creating a back-up plan for replacing the capabilities provided by the Envisat satellite, which was experiencing issues that could affect weather forecasts for dangerous tropical cyclones.
