# DMSP-F17
*missions*

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

## Specifications
- **operator**: us-air-force
- **entity type**: mission
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-11
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: us-air-force
- **attributes**: {"summary":"DMSP-F17 was a U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program platform carrying SSMIS microwave sounding channels.","operator":"us-air-force"}

## Editorial
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.[^wmo-oscar-dmsp-f17] Planned end-of-life is September 2026.[^wmo-oscar-dmsp-f17]

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.[^eoportal-dmsp-5d][^wmo-oscar-dmsp-f17] 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.[^wmo-oscar-dmsp-f17] 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.[^wmo-oscar-dmsp-f17]

DMSP-F17 became the primary operational US military weather satellite after DMSP-F19 failed in February 2016.[^eoportal-dmsp-5d] 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.[^ospo-fnmoc-notice]

## Compositional position
- DMSP-F17 --[mission_payloads]--> ssmis (products)
- world-bank-light-every-night (data_products) --[related]--> DMSP-F17

## Sources
- [wmo-oscar-dmsp-f17] | WMO OSCAR - DMSP-F17 satellite record | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/satellites/view/dmsp_f17 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-11
- [wiki-dmsp] | Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Meteorological_Satellite_Program | tier=community | accessed=2026-06-11
- [eoportal-dmsp-5d] | DMSP Block 5D mission, eoPortal | https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/dmsp-block-5d | tier=community | accessed=2026-06-11
- [ospo-fnmoc-notice] | FNMOC plans to cease DMSP data distribution, NOAA OSPO | https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/messages/2025/07/MSG_20250701_1815.html | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-11

---
Source: https://eo-atlas.org/missions/dmsp-f17
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)