QuikSCAT
Measuring Ocean Surface Winds from Space
When NASA’s Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) spacecraft launched on June 19, 1999, its SeaWinds instrument made measuring ocean surface winds a breeze. A “quick recovery” mission designed to fill a gap created by the loss of NASA Scatterometer data in 1997, QuikSCAT well outlived its three-year mission requirement, returning valuable science data for nearly two decades.