Topic: NOAA 21 Star Tracker Photo Mode Scheduled for January 22, 2026

Date/Time Issued: January 22, 2026 2155Z

Product(s) or Data Impacted:  All NOAA 21 Sensor Data

Date/Time of Initial Impact:  January 22, 2026 17:10:32Z

Date/Time of Expected End: January 22, 2026 17:44:36Z 

Length of Outage:  34 Minutes 

Details/Specifics: On January 22, 2026, NOAA-21 will perform a spacecraft attitude maneuver for the Star Tracker Photo Mode Calibration, keeping star tracker 1 pointed at Harvard Catalog Star 2920. Science data may be impacted while the spacecraft is pointing off-nadir during the attitude maneuver.  The timeline of events for this maneuver are provided below.

The following observatory systems will be affected on 2026 January 22:

17:10:32Z – 17:44:35Z X-band RF (HRD) will be turned off
17:10:36Z – 17:41:38Z NOAA-21 will be pointing off-nadir, collected stored mission data (SMD) will be impacted and should not be disseminated 

This notification was sent to ESPC.Notification@noaa.gov, a mailing list you are subscribed to. If you wish to unsubscribe, please contact ESPC Help-Desk at ESPCOperations@noaa.gov with your request. Please note: it may take up to two business days to process your request. For any additional information you can reach ESPC at 301-817-3880 (24x7)