NOAA-N Prime, built by Lockheed Martin, is similar to NOAA-N launched on May 20, 2005.

It is the last of a long series of AVHRR/APT polar orbiting satellites. Future NOAA satellites will be the NPOESS series transmitting HRD and LRD digital data.

The satellite was launched from the Western Range at Vandenberg AFB by a United Launch Alliance two-stage Delta II rocket managed by NASA's Launch Service Program at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
The launch vehicle was two-stage Delta II 7320 manufactured and prepared for launch by the United Launch Alliance. The launch was planned to be much earlier but the craft was badly damaged in 2003 when it fell off its transport cart. See: - sat_future.html

NOAA-N Prime is the last satellite in the Advanced Television Infrared Observational Satellites -N series built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. NOAA-N Prime will provide a polar-orbiting platform to support environmental monitoring instruments for imaging and measuring the Earth's atmosphere, its surface and cloud cover, including Earth radiation, atmospheric ozone, aerosol distribution, sea surface temperature, and vertical temperature and water profiles in the troposphere and stratosphere. The satellite will assist in measuring proton and electron fluxes at orbit altitude, collecting data from remote platforms and will assist the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking system.

For pictures see: - http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/noaa_n.html.