# NOAA-21 3D model

> Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.

Free 3D model of NOAA-21, a satellite, built from published dimensions by Space Radar. 8,716 triangles, 51 kB glTF, MIT.

- **Class:** Satellites
- **Mission:** Weather and climate
- **Triangles:** 8,716
- **File:** noaa21.glb, 51 kB, glTF 2.0 binary (meshopt)
- **Look:** Flat colours
- **Size:** 11 m across
- **Made:** Built from dimensions
- **Added:** 2026-10-13
- **NORAD:** 54234, 43013
- **Download:** https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/main/site/models/noaa21.glb
- **Mirror:** https://git.sara-agent.org/sara-projects/space-radar/raw/branch/main/site/models/noaa21.glb
- **Viewer:** https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=noaa21
- **On the live map:** https://www.spaceradar.ai/#at=sat-54234
- **Licence:** MIT (https://github.com/Sara-Managed-Projects/space-radar/blob/main/LICENSE)
- **Credit:** NOAA-21 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT License

Canonical: https://models.spaceradar.ai/noaa21/

## How it was made

Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions and NOAA's drawings and render of NOAA-21.

built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh

## Dimensions

- Body length: 4.27 m
- Body width: 2.13 m
- Length with array: 10.67 m
- Viirs: 1.41 m
- Cris: 0.94 m
- Atms: 0.7 m
- Omps: 0.56 m

Source: NOAA NESDIS, 'JPSS satellite and instruments', https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/our-satellites/currently-flying/joint-polar-satellite-system/jpss-satellite-and-instruments, OPENED 2026-10-13 (the first file took the same sentence from a search result; the numbers are the same): 'NOAA-21 is about the size of a large pickup truck, at 14 feet by 7 feet, and it weighs 5,750 pounds. Its length stretches to 35 feet when its solar array is deployed.' The instruments, NOAA's paper model, https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/s3/2022-09/JPSS%20Paper%20Model-071922.pdf, opened 2026-10-13: 'JPSS-2 carries four instruments that collect information: the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), and the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS).' (no CERES: eoPortal's JPSS payload table lists it for JPSS-1 only). Their sizes, https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/suomi-npp and https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/jpss, opened 2026-10-13: VIIRS 'a size of 134 cm x 141 cm x 85 cm'; CrIS 'Instrument size 71 cm x 88 cm x 94 cm'; 'ATMS instrument dimensions 70 cm x 60 cm x 40 cm'; OMPS 'a size of 0.35 m x 0.54 m x 0.56 m'. Five panels: eoPortal, 'a deployable five-panel solar array capable of generating 4450 W'. NOT CITED, measured on NOAA's drawing scaled by the cited 4.27 m: the deck's 1.45 m width, the bus's 1.3 m height (with VIIRS's 0.85 m below the deck that is the cited 7 ft), the wing's 8.5 x 1.85 m, the radiators, where each instrument sits, and everything on the side away from the Earth

## References

- [JPSS-2 Blueprints](https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/s3/2022-09/JPSS-2_Blueprints.png), NOAA (Public domain (NOAA NESDIS, a work of the United States government))
- [NOAA-21 schematic diagram](https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/s3/2023-12/noaa-21-schematic-diagram.png), NOAA (Public domain (NOAA NESDIS, a work of the United States government))
- [Artist's rendering of NOAA-21](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Artist%27s_rendering_of_NOAA-21.png), NOAA (Public domain (NOAA))