Administrative, NOAA-15 in the backup attitude control mode (reduced gyro) issued : March 17 1630 UTC *UPDATE*

Topic:
NOAA-15 in the backup attitude control mode (reduced gyro)

Date/Time Issued:
March 17, 2010 1630 UTC

Product(s) or Data Impacted:
NOAA-15 data

Date/Time of Initial Impact:
March 10, 2010 2344 UTC

Date/Time of Expected End:
TBD

Length of Event:
TBD

Impacts on Users and Significance:
Possible major impact

Details/Specifics of Change:
NOAA-15 entered the Yaw Gyrocompassing (YGC) mode on 8 March 2010 during a pass at 01:45 UTC. To preserve the gyros and the mission, NOAA-15 was commanded to a back up attitude control mode (reduced gyro) on 10 March 2010 during a pass at FBKS at 23:44 UTC, and it is and will be operated in this mode. Users will get notified when our engineers come up with and implement a solution.

Since 10 March 2010, NOAA-15 has been stable in this configuration. There are some sharp excursions for all axes for attitude error but mostly in yaw (yaw-x=+/1.0deg, roll-y=+/- 0.02deg, pitch- z=+/-0.05deg). Consequently, geo-locations of NOAA-15 products are expected to be impacted significantly.

Contact Information for Further Information:

ESPC Operations Crew Leader at ESPCOperations@noaa.gov and 301-817-3880

*Web Site(s) for applicable information:* N/A