Free Republic

The US Air Force confirmed that the 20-year-old Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 13 (DMSP-F13) suffered a "catastrophic event". It shattered into 43 pieces following a sudden temperature spike which triggered the loss of its altitude control. The event happened on 3 February but the incident has only just came to light following questions from website Space News.

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. weather satellite that tracks the East Coast and Atlantic hurricanes is broken.</p>

As the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Air Force await direction from the White House on possible changes to a troubled civil-military weather satellite effort, the program’s top official announced he will resign Jan. 8. Dan Stockton, program executive officer for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), informed NOAA, NASA and Defense Department leadership that he will step down to take a job in the private sector, according to a Dec. 24 e-mail sent to colleagues that was obtained by Space News. NOAA spokesman John Leslie confirmed Stockton’s resignation. Stockton has been the program’s...