Beth Schmid
Headquarters, Washington, DC                                                    
March 24, 1995
(Phone:  202/358-1760)

Ernie Shannon
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone:  205/286-6256)

RELEASE:  95-35

NOAA-14 INVESTIGATIVE BOARD FORMED TO STUDY ANOMALY

     An investigative board has been formed at the Goddard 
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, to study a problem that 
developed earlier this month with the NOAA-14 microwave 
sounding unit, which measures the vertical temperature of 
the atmosphere up to about 12 miles (20 kilometers).

     On March 2, the unit suddenly stopped performing its 
normal scan sequence.  Its motor continued to draw current 
causing some overheating, but engineers discovered the 
problem and shut down the motor before any apparent damage 
occurred.  On March 10, the investigative board was formed 
with Goddard's Jim Ryan, head of the Mechanical Engineering 
Branch in the Engineering Directorate, chairing the board.

     As part of the board's initial investigation, the 
microwave sounding unit was reactivated for short periods on 
March 15 and 17 to determine if the unit would work.  These 
reactivations were successful and the unit was able to 
perform the scanning sequence for an eight-minute period, 
but then was shut down to allow time to further study and 
understand why the mechanism initially stalled.

     Presently, the investigative board has decided to keep 
the instrument off until a software patch is implemented 
that would command the unit's motor to shut down should the 
scanning sequence suddenly stop again.  


                         -end-

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