NOAA-15, which first launched in 1998 has orbited Earth more than 100,00 times to collect critical data that helps preserve life, property, the ecosystem and commerce on Earth. It is one of the last POES satellites that we will soon say farewell to.
The Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites, also known as POES, have played an extremely important role in monitoring the planet’s weather and environment since the launch of the first satellite in the series in 1978. After more than four decades of continuous service, NOAA has retired the last two remaining satellites in its longest operating Earth-observing constellation
Today, NOAA continues the critical mission of collecting weather observations from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) through its next-generation satellite system, the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). Building on the legacy of POES and working in coordination with other NOAA and partner LEO satellites, JPSS features more advanced instruments, delivers data more quickly, and improves the accuracy of weather forecasts.
The long-running POES mission has concluded its final chapter. In August 2025, NOAA decommissioned the last two POES satellites: NOAA-15 on August 19, 2025, and NOAA-19 on August 13, 2025. This follows the recent emergency passivation of NOAA-18 on June 6, 2025, after the satellite lost functionality of its transmitter in late May. Passivation is the process of safely shutting down a satellite in a controlled manner by draining its batteries, turning off its transmitters, and deleting its onboard software so it can no longer operate or interfere with other spacecraft. This effectively ends an environmental satellite mission that spans 47 years.
“The POES constellation transformed how we understand and forecast our planet’s weather,” said Greg Marlow, NOAA Director for Satellite and Product Operations. “These satellites gave us decades of insights to support everyday forecasts and long-term science alike.”
Each POES satellite was originally designed to last for five years; however, most far outlived those expectations. Flying about 520 miles above Earth and orbiting pole-to-pole 14 times a day, they provided critical observations of Earth’s atmosphere, surface and oceans that improved forecasts for hurricanes, wildfires, floods and other hazards that gave communities more time to prepare. Beyond weather forecasting, the POES satellites also carried instruments that supported the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system since 1982. By relaying distress beacon signals, they have helped to save more than 24,400 lives around the world.
“POES wasn’t just a weather satellite system, it was a global asset,” said Greg Marlow, NOAA Director of Satellite and Product Operations. “From search and rescue to climate monitoring, these satellites supported NOAA’s mission and helped build international partnerships that endure to this day.”
POES satellites also benefited global commerce, agriculture, shipping, aviation and energy production by providing timely reliable weather data, especially in remote parts of the world where they were often the only near real-time source available. For decades, their data fed into NOAA’s numerical weather prediction models, improving 3- to 5-day weather forecasts and directly assisting the federal, state and local governments in protecting life and property, especially during extreme weather events.
Because the POES mission operated for more than four decades, it contributed to the development of long-term environmental records that aid research in the changing of global weather patterns. It consistently calibrated observations that allowed scientists to track patterns such as ocean heat waves and ozone depletion. This long-term data continues to support the baseline inputs used in NOAA’s weather models and forecasting systems.
In its final years, NOAA extended the POES mission through an innovative program called POES Extended Life. By partnering with commercial industry, specifically Parsons Corporation and Norway’s Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) network, Parsons operated these NOAA owned satellites with a secure, cloud-based ground system, marking a first for managing federal satellites in such a way. This partnership assisted NOAA with maintaining POES’s critical weather observations for several more years via a more cost effective manner, and assisted in providing valuable lessons for future NOAA projects.
Additionally, as part of its broader commitment to international cooperation, NOAA has partnered with the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) since 1998 to share each other's satellite-based weather observations and build a larger, global observing system.
Like many older satellites, the POES satellites do not have thrusters to support a controlled reentry into Earth’s atmosphere at the end of their mission life. Instead, once passivated, they are safely powered down, placed in a non-operational state, and left in a stable orbit. Without onboard propulsion or significant atmospheric drag at their current altitude, NOAA estimates they will remain in orbit for roughly 150 years before gradually reentering the atmosphere and disintegrating.
Although the POES mission is ending, its legacy lives on through NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). NOAA remains focused on honoring a fleet that served far longer, and more reliably than anyone imagined.
Be sure to follow along to learn how JPSS is carrying the mission forward.