DMSP-19 anomaly report

An anomaly resolution team has determined that a power failure within the command-and-control system caused the February failure of a legacy Air Force weather satellite.

Air Force Space Command confirmed in a July 25 press release that the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's 18th satellite is out of service after it experienced a failure of the command-and-control subsystem. Although DMSP-19 can still provide real-time tactical data, the accuracy of that data "will begin to degrade" over time, the release states.

"The satellite is not repairable and no further action will be taken to recover it," the release states. "When tactical data are no longer available, the satellite will be tracked as one of many space objects for situational awareness and collision avoidance purposes."

The loss of the asset won't affect the Defense Department's weather mission, according to the release. Another satellite in the constellation, DMSP-17, will now serve as one of two primary satellites in the constellation, along with DMSP-18.

"The constellation continues to provide weather and atmospheric data to users as it has for the past five decades," the release states.