The United States sends GOES-T into orbit, a new advanced weather satellite

An impressive nearly 5.2 ton satellite, GOES-T complements US weather monitoring capabilities fromgeostationary orbit
. Its modern capabilities will be useful for day-to-day predictions as well as longer-term climate change.

It will remain in operation for at least 10 years.

go go GOES-T

The arrival of a large weather observation satellite in orbit is always a special moment. Indeed, these tools are crucial for day-to-day forecasts, monitoring disturbances over large distances and trends over several weeks… but also for extreme events such as tropical storms, clouds linked to volcanic eruptions, etc.

The current generation of GOES satellites (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) also observes magnetic disturbances in orbit and “solar weather” using dedicated instruments. However, these satellites, which are veritable jewels of technology capable of scanning almost half of the globe in a few minutes at a resolution of less than one kilometer, are prepared more than a decade in advance, to ensure absolute continuity… therefore act not to miss take-off or commissioning!

The Atlas V rocket took off last night at 10:38 p.m. (Paris) to send the GOES-T satellite into geostationary orbit. The preparatory work paid off: the mission was a success!

Heavyweight category

GOES-T is the third device in the current generation of US GOES satellites (the entire family dates back to the 1970s). Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, it is a large unit weighing 5,192 kg at take-off, including more than 2 tonnes of fuel, which will be useful for it to reach its “place” in geostationary orbit and to keep it there as long as possible, between 10 and 15 years according to current forecasts. It is equipped with six instruments, but the most important is the ABI (Advanced Baseline Imager), which observes the Earth in the visible and infrared.

GOES-T was supposed to reach orbit a few years ago, but its predecessor GOES-S had a problem after only a few weeks in orbit in 2018, as its ABI could not be cooled properly. Fortunately, this only affected its infrared capabilities… but GOES-T (which was already ready then) had to be dismantled and its instrument returned to production.

Soon the end of the alphabet!

The United States maintains two geostationary satellites in permanent operation, with backup units, old satellites with lesser capacities which are “on standby”. Once in their place in geostationary orbit, they take their final name. Thus GOES-R became GOES-16 and GOES-S is called GOES-17. One is over the Atlantic side of the country, and the other is over the Pacific side, which covers about two-thirds of the globe… Offering open and public data, accessible from around the world on the Goes-r.gov website .

GOES-T, which you guessed it will become GOES-18, still has to reach its operational orbit, then it will be put in a position to wait and test its instruments, not far from one of its predecessors (ideal to compare the data). By early 2023, it should replace GOES-17 on the Pacific side. This will be followed by the take-off of GOES-U scheduled for 2024 and… they will have to be enduring, because the next generation is still being defined and will only take off between 2032 and 2036, if all goes well.

Source: space news