Mission Overview
For nearly five decades, the Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) project—a collaborative effort between NOAA and NASA—provided continuous, global environmental statistics. The constellation supported operational weather forecasting, climate research, and global search-and-rescue tracking, far outliving its original design parameters.
Following 47 years of continuous Earth observation, NOAA ended all operational data delivery from the POES constellation on June 16, 2025. The final three active spacecraft were safely passivated and decommissioned in August 2025, successfully concluding the POES mission legacy.
Operational Profile
Historically, the POES system collected data via a constellation of two polar-orbiting satellites—one in a morning orbit and one in an afternoon orbit. Traveling roughly 520 miles (830 km) above the Earth, these spacecraft completed an orbit from pole to pole approximately every 102 minutes.
Core Instrument Legacy
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AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer)
Provided cloud cover, land surface, and sea-surface temperature data. -
AMSU (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit)
Provided global temperature and moisture profiles through dense cloud cover. -
SARSAT (Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking)
Relayed distress signals from emergency beacons, directly contributing to thousands of lives saved.