A new weather satellite has been brought to space using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket! GOES-U is the latest weather satellite from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Built by Lockheed Martin, GOES-U is the fourth and last weather satellite in the GOES-R series. This series includes imagery from the GOES-R satellite - or, more commonly known as GOES-16, that we show on TV. GOES-U, once operational, will be renamed to OGES-19. Satellites are renamed and given a number once they are in their final spot and become operational. This is the last satellite that NOAA will send up for at least eight more years. The next generation of satellites are called Geostationary Extended Operations (GEOXO).
GOES stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. These satellites typically sit 35,786 kilometers (22,236 miles) above the Earth, located directly above the Equator. This allows them to get 24 hour views of the Earth from one spot.
The last satellite that was launched was GOES-T - AKA GOES-18 or GOES-West, back in March, 2022. GOES-T covers the western portions of the United States, including states such as California, Utah, Wyoming, Alaska, and Hawaii to name a few.
New instruments have been placed on GOES-U to help improve weather forecasts and space weather forecasts. This is a big deal not only for the weather community, but also for those interested in space weather as well.
Let’s dive into the instruments. I spoke with several folks while at the Kennedy Space Center the morning of the launch about their thoughts on the satellite and launch. One gentleman on the GOES Launch Team who worked on the software development side of the satellite, mentioned that he was “hopeful” for a successful launch and was “excited” with the newest addition of a Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), which is highly useful when dealing with severe weather. Michael Anfinson, of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at University of Colorado Boulder (CSU), helped with a new instrumentation to help with space weather called “GOES-R EXIS” and a Coronagraph. EXIS stands for Extreme Ultraviolet and X-RAY Irradiance Sensors. This will allow scientists to monitor the sun and its activities such as solar flares - like the rare and extreme event that we saw back in May. L3Harris, an aerospace and defense company, worked on the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). This gives us the different bands to filter specific aspects of the atmosphere and surface data, such as dust, fog, and fires. Another aspect that is going to be tracked is ocean observations. Knowing the sea surface temperatures will help with forecasting hurricanes, as well as marine and coral life that tend to be affected by the changing temperatures of oceanic waters.
As of July 07th, 2024 - just two weeks after its initial launch, GOES-U reached its final destination in its geostationary orbit, sitting at that distance of 22,236 miles above the Earth. After reaching this milestone, GOES-U was renamed to GOES-19.
GOES-19 will replace our current GOES-East/GOES-16 satellite that was launched back in November, 2016.