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DMSP-F17

Data products → World Bank Light Every Night (L3)

DMSP-F17 was a U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program platform carrying SSMIS microwave sounding channels.

DMSP-F17 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 17, Block 5D-3) is a US Air Force operational meteorological satellite launched on 4 November 2006 by a Delta IV rocket into a sun-synchronous polar low Earth orbit at 848 km altitude and 98.8 degrees inclination, with a 06:35 descending equator crossing time.^[1] Planned end-of-life is September 2026.^[1]

The primary payload is the SSMIS (Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder), a 24-channel conical-scanning passive microwave instrument spanning 19.35 to 183.311 GHz with a 1707 km swath, providing temperature and humidity sounding profiles and surface precipitation estimates for numerical weather prediction.^[2]^[1] Channel 54.4 GHz failed shortly after launch, channel 53.596 GHz failed in August 2013, and noise degradation in the temperature sounding channels was identified from October 2017 onward; NWP centres addressed these effects through bias correction schemes.^[1] The Operational Linescan System (OLS) provides visible and infrared cloud imagery for military weather support. The Space Environment Sensor Suite includes an ultraviolet limb imager, a magnetometer, a precipitating particle spectrometer, and an ionospheric plasma monitor; the UV spectrographic imager is inactive.^[1]

DMSP-F17 became the primary operational US military weather satellite after DMSP-F19 failed in February 2016.^[2] The US Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (FNMOC) ceased distributing DMSP-F17 data in July 2025 due to cybersecurity considerations, while the satellite itself continued operating toward its planned September 2026 end-of-life.^[3]

Supply chain position

carries instrument SSMIS

operated by United States Air Force

launched on Ula Delta Iv M

related to World Bank Light Every Night

Microwave atmospheric sounding → demonstrated SSMIS

Multi-frequency microwave imaging radiometry → demonstrated SSMIS

Sources

[1]WMO OSCAR - DMSP-F17 satellite recordagency doc2026-06-11
[2]DMSP Block 5D mission, eoPortalcommunity2026-06-11
[3]FNMOC plans to cease DMSP data distribution, NOAA OSPOagency doc2026-06-11
[4]Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, Wikipediacommunity2026-06-11

Cite https://eo-atlas.org/missions/dmsp-f17 Markdown twin → Field definitions → Suggest a correction →

How to cite this page

Plain text

DMSP-F17. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V. https://eo-atlas.org/missions/dmsp-f17 (CC BY 4.0)

BibTeX

@misc{eoatlas:missions:dmsp-f17,
  title = {DMSP-F17},
  author = {{EO-Atlas}},
  publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
  url = {https://eo-atlas.org/missions/dmsp-f17}
}