The NOAA-20 satellite underwent a rephasing maneuver between March 20th, 2024 - April 4th, 2024, as part of an orbit rephasing to provide 180 degrees of separation between NOAA-20 and NOAA-21. The Satellite remained in Mission Pointing Mode during the drift period, which lasted for 16 days. The first propulsive burn maneuver successfully completed on March 20th, 2024, and lowered the NOAA-20's altitude to a lower orbit. The satellite drifted for 16 days, until positioned to 180 degrees from NOAA-21, after which another propulsive burn was performed successfully on April 4th, 2024, to raise the satellite back to its nominal orbit. The Land products were not made available, as all operational processing was suspended for the duration. The data production continued in a test archive set for review of data by VCST, Geolocation, and Quality Assessment (LDOPE) team during the initial burn maneuver, the drift period, and the second burn maneuver. A detailed summary of the rephasing maneuver prepared by the NASA's VCST Geometric Calibration Group can be found here.

Several granules were affected during the drift period and the Geolocation team observed an increase in the track direction error by ~35m during the second propulsive burn on April 4th, 2024. The track direction error shows a sudden increase of ~400m after the second burn on April 4th, 2024, that has been investigated by the geolocation team.

Occurrence:

PGE:

Case Name: HC_N20_L1B_24101