There's a little more than two months left in this year's hurricane season and forecasters are glad to have the most up-to-date information available at hand.

"Let’s say one of the geostationary satellites fails, which does happen. Then these polar orbiting satellites allow us an eye in the sky to keep viewing the weather," said Businger.

The cost for the new system is about $160,000. UH paid for half of it, but the information is being shared with the National Weather Service, Honolulu Forecast Office, the University of Wisconsin and Honolulu Community College.

The Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory at UH is another program that may benefit from the new satellite facility.

UH is getting ready to launch its own satellites and the new facility may be used to track them.