The NOAA 1 sun-synchronous meteorological satellite was primarily designed to enhance the operational capability of infrared and visual observations of Earth's cloud cover, facilitating weather analysis and forecasting.

Additionally, the satellite was tasked with regularly collecting solar proton data and monitoring global heat balance.

The satellite's Earth-facing orientation was stabilized using precession induced by a momentum flywheel, achieving one revolution per orbit to maintain the correct attitude.

In response to overheating in the attitude control system, the APT and Direct Readout InfraRed (DRIR) subsystems were deactivated on June 20, 1971.

The AVCS was subsequently turned off, and the scanning radiometer continued to function partially until the satellite was fully deactivated on August 19, 1971.