Currently Flying

NOAA owns or operates a total of 18 satellites.

NOAA owns and operates eight satellites, which include:

Five geostationary (GOES-14, -16, -17, -18, and -19)
Two polar-orbiting polar-orbiting (NOAA -20, and -21)
One deep space satellite (DSCOVR)

NOAA operates but does not own, seven satellites, which include:

Suomi NPP (NOAA/NASA)
Jason-3 (CNES owns)
Three Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites (F-16, F-17, F-19)
EWS-G1 and EWS-G2 (Air Force owns, formerly GOES-13 and GOES-15)

NOAA Satellites Operating under a Commercial Ground Segment:

NOAA-15, NOAA-18, NOAA-19

NOAA Satellites circling the earth with each of their names.

Download High-Res Infographic

Our Satellites

Geostationary Satellites

The GOES mission

Artist's digital rendering of the JPSS-1/NOAA-20 satellite

Joint Polar Satellite System/NOAA-20

The JPSS mission

Jason-3

Explore the Jason-3 satellite

Deep Space Climate Observatory

Read about the observatory

COSMIC-2

Weather forecasting COSMIC-2 data

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program

Defense weather satellite information

Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites

For years, NOAA’s Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) satellites have provided the backbone of the global observing system. Our current operational POES satellites include NOAA-15, NOAA-18, and NOAA-19. These satellites have been instrumental in the research and development of the JPSS series.

Today, they operate in various primary and secondary roles, providing additional full global data coverage for a broad range of weather and environmental applications, supporting both short-term weather forecasting and long-term climate and environmental data records.

Satellite Operations

The Office of Satellite Ground Services (OSGS) oversees the development and sustainment of all NESDIS satellite ground systems. These ground systems are vital in order to get information obtained from space to the users who need it on the ground everyday.

The Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO) is responsible for maintaining the comprehensive scheduling and data information for both Geostationary and Polar orbiting satellites, and provides imagery and products derived from the data these satellites collect. These include, near-real time imagery of current or developing cyclones, satellite imagery depicting various sectors of the United States, and an array of other atmospheric data products.