In April, we posted news that the NOAA satellites would be classed as 'end-of-life' on June 16, 2025. According to the statements, the satellites were expected to remain in orbit and continue transmitting data that radio hobbyists could use, but no attempts would be made to rectify failures.

However, recent news from Carl Reinmann's usaradioguy.com blog has indicated that NOAA 18 will begin decommissioning steps immediately on June 3, 2025. The steps involve disabling batteries and transmitters, depleting remaining propellants, transitioning data and operations, and finally deorbiting, or moving the satellite to a safer orbit.

NOAA-18 may have been chosen to be decommissioned earlier than NOAA-15 and NOAA-19 as the S-band downlink transmitter failed last month, resulting in severe image degradation. The satellite has also been running on backup gyros since 2017, and has suffered various transmitter and sensor failures over the years.