The Weather System Follow-on Microwave (WSF-M) satellite is the United States Department of Defense's next-generation operational

environmental satellite An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...

system. WSF-M will be a sun-synchronous

Low Earth Orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never m ...

(LEO) satellite with a passive microwave imaging radiometer instrument and hosted furnished Energetic Charged Particle (ECP) sensor. The

Air Force Space Command The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

intends to include ECP sensors on all future satellites for

space weather Space weather is a branch of space physics and aeronomy, or heliophysics, concerned with the time varying conditions within the Solar System, including the solar wind, emphasizing the space surrounding the Earth, including conditions in the m ...

monitoring, starting from the early 2020s. WSF-M is currently contracted for launch in 2024 on a

Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon 9 Block 5 is a partially reusable two-stage-to-orbit medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. It is the fifth version of Falcon 9 Full Thrust, powered by SpaceX Merlin engines burning rocket-g ...

rocket. WSF-M will be the first satellite in the Weather System Follow-on (WSF) program. Following the cancellation of the

National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) was to be the United States' next-generation satellite system that would monitor the Earth's weather, atmosphere, oceans, land, and near-space environment. NPOESS sate ...

(NPOESS), the Air Force pursued continued the development of a weather satellite under the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS) program based on NPOESS. However, when that system faced delays and funding issues, the White House cancelled it and instituted the WSF program. WSF-M is designed to mitigate three high priority U.S. DoD Space-Based Environmental Monitoring (SBEM) gaps: ocean surface vector winds, tropical cyclone intensity and LEO energetic charged particles.

References

{{Future spaceflights Weather satellites of the United States Proposed satellites 2023 in spaceflight Military satellites of the United States