NOAA-14, also known as NOAA-J before launch, was an American weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The goal of the NOAA/NESS polar orbiting program is to provide output products used in meteorological prediction and warning, oceanographic and hydrologic services, and space environment monitoring.

The NOAA-14 instrument complement consists of 1° the 5-channel Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer/2 (AVHRR/2); 2° the TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS), which consists of the Stratospheric Sounding Unit (SSU), the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) and the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS/2); 3° the French/CNES-provided Argos Data Collection System (DCS); 4° the Search and Rescue System (SARSAT); 5° the Space Environment Monitor (SEM), which consists of the Total Energy Detector (TED) and the Medium Energy Proton and Electron Detector (MEPED); and 6° the Remote Atmospheric and Ionospheric Detection System (RAIDS), an experimental USAF test instrument.

[5] The AVHRR/2 was a five-channel scanning radiometer capable of providing global daytime and nighttime sea-surface temperature and information about ice, snow, and clouds.

The electronic module included systems for data processing, temperature control, telemetry, scan and motor logic.

All three instruments were designed to determine radiances needed to calculate temperature and humidity profiles of the atmosphere from the surface to the stratosphere (approximately 1 mb).

It had three channels that operated at 669.99, 669.63, and 669.36 per cm using three pressure-modulated cells containing CO2 (at 100, 35 and 10 mb) to accomplish selective bandpass filtration of the sampled radiance.

The SSU detector was a flake of tri-glycine sulphate attached to the end of a conical gold-plated nickel pipe.

[7] The third instrument, the MSU, had four channels operating in the 50- to 60-GHz oxygen band (50.31, 53.73, 54.96 and 57.95 GHz) which obtained vertical temperature profiles free of cloud interference to an altitude of about 20 km.

Microwave energy received by each antenna was separated into vertical and horizontal polarization components by an orthomode transducer and each of the four signals was fed into one of the radiometer channels.

[7] The Argos Data Collection and Location System (DCS) on NOAA-14 was designed to obtain low-duty-cycle transmissions of meteorological observations from free-floating balloons, ocean buoys, other satellites, and fixed ground-based sensor platforms distributed around the globe.

Cooperating organizations included NOAA, the Russian Merchant Marine, Canada Department of Defense and communications industries, and CNES/France.

SARSAT equipment was provided by Canada and France to be flown on NOAA POES and on Russian polar orbiting satellites (COSPAS or "System for Search of Vessels in Distress").

The SARSAT system elements were: 1) a space-based receiver, frequency translation repeater (provided by the Department of Communications, Canada) for both existing and experimental Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT)/Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB) bands; 2) a Local User Terminal (LUT) which received the ELT/EPIRB signals and processed the doppler data to Earth locate the transmitting platform; 3) operational and experimental ELT and EPIRB systems; 4) a space-based receiver and processor for the experimental (406 MHz) ELT/EPIRB transmissions (provided by CNES, France); and 5) the Mission Control Centers for coordinating activities, processing global data and coordinating search activities.

Data from the 121.5-MHz ELTs, the 243-MHz EPIRBs, and experimental 406-MHz ELTs/EPIRBs were received by the Search and Rescue Repeater (SARR) and broadcast in real time on an L-band frequency (1544.5 MHz).

Real-time data were monitored by Local User Terminals (LUTs) operating in many countries (including United States, Canada, France, and Russia).

The 406-MHz data were also processed by the Search and Rescue Processor (SARP), and stored on the spacecraft for later transmittal to the CDA stations in Alaska and Virginia, thus providing full global coverage.

The output from the detectors were connected to a signal analyzer which sensed and logically selected events above threshold values.

[10] The RAIDS was a U.S. Air Force (DoD) and NOAA test program instrument to make simultaneous measurements of the neutral and ion composition during the day and night.

The MIRP process high data rate AVHRR to tape recorders (GAC) and direct read-out (HRPT and LAC).

The goal of the NESS polar orbiting program was to provide output products used in meteorological prediction and warning, oceanographic and hydrologic services, and space environment monitoring.