NOAA 8

About This Satellite

NOAA-8 brought Canadian and French search-and-rescue instruments onto a US satellite in 1983. This international payload made a weather platform part of a distress-alert system. The satellite detected and relayed radio-beacon transmissions; it did not locate survivors by taking photographs of them.

A satellite detection was only one link in a rescue

The Cospas-Sarsat system connected distress beacons, satellites, local receiving terminals, mission control centres, and rescue coordination centres. Its training material separates these roles. A received signal still needed ground processing and distribution to responders: an orbital pass alone did not dispatch a rescue aircraft.

The first SARSAT satellite was not the first Cospas rescue

The programme chronology places Cospas-1 in 1982 and the first rescue in September of that year, before NOAA-8 launched. NOAA-8 belongs to the first SARSAT launches in 1983; the system was declared operational in 1985. These are different milestones, not competing dates for one event.

Mission reference: Cospas-Sarsat Secretariat: first satellites and the ground-to-rescue alert chain. Editorial review: 2026-09-15.

Weather and space-environment instruments shared the platform

WMO records a March 28, 1983 launch and identifies NOAA-8 as the first Advanced TIROS-N spacecraft. Its payload included AVHRR, HIRS/2, MSU, SSU, Argos, and particle detectors alongside search-and-rescue equipment. WMO lists the satellite as inactive, with an operational endpoint of December 29, 1985. The historical payload list describes equipment carried, not present-day instrument availability or a distress service accessible through this catalog.

Reference: WMO OSCAR: NOAA-8 launch, payload and inactive status.

A later satellite number did not mean more imaging bands

The AVHRR Polar Pathfinder researchers identify NOAA-8 with the four-channel AVHRR/1, whereas NOAA-7 carried the five-channel AVHRR/2. NOAA-8 was therefore excluded from their five-channel Polar Pathfinder selection. This is a product-specific limitation, not a judgment that NOAA-8 produced no useful weather data. Instrument version and required spectral bands matter more than assuming every successive spacecraft number represents an upgrade in every subsystem.

Reference: Key et al. (2016): NOAA-8 AVHRR/1 and Polar Pathfinder selection criteria.

Reading this orbital snapshot

Based on TLE epoch: 2026-09-05. Estimated altitude ranges from 781 km at perigee to 803 km at apogee, a difference of 22 km. The orbital period is about 100.7 minutes. Eccentricity 0.00153 indicates a nearly circular path. In a two-body approximation, perigee speed is 1.00 times apogee speed. These are mean-element estimates, not instantaneous measurements. Distance per orbit uses an ellipse approximation.

Saved build snapshot. If a valid TLE is retrieved, this explanation and the orbit panel update together. Otherwise this dated snapshot is retained.

Ground track is not sensor coverage

An inclination of 98.73 degrees implies approximate geocentric ground-track limits of 81.3 degrees north and south. This is a retrograde orbit, moving against the direction of Earth rotation. The plotted line marks the point beneath the object. It does not represent camera coverage, radio reception, or a guaranteed visible pass.

Accuracy and missing information

The introductory record describes the build snapshot. The orbital snapshot explanation and orbit panel share any successfully retrieved TLE; check the displayed epoch. Reentered objects retain historical data only. Mission history is not rewritten by TLE updates. TLE/SGP4 positions are predictions and can change after maneuvers or updated observations. The 14-day stale-data cutoff is a display safeguard, not an accuracy guarantee. Local passes are geometric predictions, not a visibility forecast. No verified operator or mission status means unknown, not active. Do not use this catalog for collision avoidance or operational flight decisions.

Catalog sources: CelesTrak SATCAT: NORAD 13923 · GCAT: S13923 (source update 2026 Sep 4 2345:57). Supplementary metadata: SatNOGS DB, retrieved 2026-09-05T12:57:25.375Z. Page assembled 2026-09-15. GCAT phase codes describe trajectory phases, not mission health.

Learn more: TLE data · Perigee and apogee · Ground tracks · JOT (Jewawud Live Orbital Map)

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