The QuikSCAT (Quick Scatterometer) is an earth-observing satellite that provides wind speed and direction information over oceans to NOAA. It is a "quick recovery" mission to fill the gap created by the loss of data from the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) that was lost in June 1997. It is in a sun-synchronous low-earth orbit.
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.[1] The European Space Agency has its own scatterometers in orbit, such as Envisat.
However, because it is now running on a backup transmitter and having other problems, this satellite could fail at any moment, putting risk at weather forecasts for possibly dangerous tropical cyclones.[2]
In early June 2007, Bill Proenza, Director of the National Hurricane Center in Florida, came under fire for criticizing his NOAA superiors for not creating a back-up plan for replacing the capabilities provided by this satellite.[3]
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