High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The QuikSCAT (Quick Scatterometer) is an earth-observing satellite that provided estimates of wind speed and direction over the oceans to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others. This "quick recovery" mission intended to replace the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT), which failed in June 1997. The satellite launched on 19 June 1999 with an intended mission of two or three years. QuikSCAT, however, continued to operate for a decade and stopped working circa 23 November 2009, when the bearings in the motor of the spinning antenna failed.