Its primary mission was to measure the surface wind speed and direction over the ice-free global oceans via its effect on water waves.

QuikSCAT was a "quick recovery" mission replacing the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT), which failed prematurely in June 1997 after just 9.5 months in operation.

Data from this mode of the mission was used to improve the accuracy of other satellite surface wind datasets by inter-calibrating other Ku-band scatterometers.

Because of its wide swath and lack of in-swath gaps, QuikSCAT was able to collect at least one vector wind measurement over 93% of the World's Oceans each day.

QuikSCAT provided measurements of the wind speed and direction referenced to 10 meters above the sea surface at a spatial resolution of 25 km.

The antenna consists of a 1-meter diameter rotating dish that produces two spot beams, sweeping in a circular pattern.

Scatterometers such as QuikSCAT emit pulses of low-power microwave radiation and measure the power reflected back to its receiving antenna from the wind-roughened sea surface.

Gravity and capillary waves on the sea surface caused by the wind reflect or backscatter power emitted from the scatterometer radar primarily by means of a Bragg resonance condition.

σ0 varies with surface wind speed and direction relative to the antenna azimuth, incidence angle, polarization, and radar frequency.

[6] The QuikSCAT project was originally budgeted at $93 million, including the physical satellite, the launch rocket, and ongoing support for its science mission.

The SeaWinds instrument, a specialized microwave radar system, measured both the speed and direction of winds near the ocean surface.

It recorded roughly four hundred thousand wind measurements daily, each covering an area 1,800 kilometers (1,100 mi) in width.

[6] Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the NSCAT team jointly managed the project of construction of the satellite at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

[8] The newly constructed satellite was set to launch on a Titan II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

For the next 48 minutes, the two crafts flew over Antarctica and later over Madagascar, where the rocket reached its desired altitude of 500 mi (800 km).

Shortly after, the solar arrays were deployed and connection was established with the satellite at 8:32 pm PDT with a tracking station in Norway.

On July 7, eighteen days after take-off, the scatterometer was turned on and a team of 12 personnel made detailed reviews of function of QuikSCAT.

A month after entering orbit, the team completed the checks, and QuikSCAT began collecting and transmitting backscatter measurements.

[9] Many operational numerical weather prediction centers began assimilating QuikSCAT data in early 2002, with preliminary assessments indicating a positive impact.

[16] This followed a battery anomaly in which the spacecraft was temporarily unable to perform nominal science observations due to limited power.

Friction caused by this deterioration slowed the rotation rate of the antenna, leading to gaps in data recorded by QuikSCAT.