Update #4: The ATMS science team has confirmed the performance of NOAA-21 ATMS SDR is consistent with that prior to the Ka transmitter switch. 

Several NOAA-21 ATMS post-launch tests (PLTs) will be performed in the next few weeks to keep characterizing the ATMS post launch on-orbit performance and generate the calibration coefficients to further improve the science data quality. Users may notice some data quality degradation during these PLTs.  An important note is that NOAA-21 (JPSS-2) remains in a Post Launch Testing (PLT) phase and it is not yet in operational service. 

Update #3: NOAA-21 Ka-band Transmitter #2 is planned to be initialized on February 2, 2023. Manual playbacks for several preceding orbits will occur before the normal downlink. The first SMD downlink is expected at ~16:00z on February 2, 2023 with rev #1196 being downlinked to users from Svalbard. 

The NOAA-21 ATMS SDR quality will be closely monitored by the science team. Should there be any data quality issues, users will be notified.  An important note is that NOAA-21 (JPSS-2) remains in a Post Launch Testing (PLT) phase and it is not yet in operational service. 

Update #2: The investigation of the Ka-Transmitter anomaly is still ongoing. X-Band High Rate Data (HRD) received over Svalbard are being used to backfill SMD on a best-effort basis for instrument monitoring purposes.  An important note is that NOAA-21 (JPSS-2) remains in a Post Launch Testing (PLT) phase and it is not yet in operational service during this early checkout period or while the Ka-Transmitter anomaly investigation is ongoing. 

Update #1: After soft and hard reset, there are still anomalous errors with the Ka-Transmitter with NOAA-21 (JPSS-2). All Stored Mission Data (SMD) Playback attempts are on hold. Anomaly response is ongoing to identify and resolve the root cause of the Ka-Transmitter anomaly.  Please note that NOAA-21 (JPSS-2) remains in Post Launch Testing (PLT) by the Mission Operations Support Team (MOST) and is not in operational service during this early checkout phase. ATMS data outage notifications will be limited to business hours only until Handover occurs in February 2023.

Topic:  NOAA-21 data outage

Date/Time Issued: February 3, 2023 1843Z

Product(s) or Data Impacted:  All NOAA-21 Products

Date/Time of Initial Impact:  12/16/22 02:49:37z

Date/Time of Expected End: TBD

Duration: TBD

Details:  During Rev #508, NOAA-21 experienced an anomaly with the KA transmitter system on board. Engineering is currently troubleshooting. There will be no Science data from the NOAA-21 spacecraft until further notice. The NOAA-20 and S-NPP Spacecrafts will continue to provide all JPSS data needs.

Contact Information for Further Information: ESPC Operations at ESPCOperations@noaa.gov or 301-817-3880

Web Site(s) for applicable information:

See https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Operations/messages.html for this and other satellite related messages.